Monument record MDO1493 - Benedictine priory at Loders Court, Loders

An alien Benedictine priory founded in the reign of Henry I, and dissolved circa 1414, when it was granted to Syon Abbey. Loders was dependent on Montebourg and was one of the larger alien priories with possibly 5 or 6 monks. Its income in 1387 exceeded £70. The monastic buildings seem to have stood to the North of the church, and some rubble walling in the cellars of Loders Court may be the fragmentary remains of the Priory. The church [apparently originally the Priory Church] is still in use.

The manor was a possession of the alien Priory from 1137 until C1414, and from then until the dissolution the property of Syon Abbey. In 17 Eliz I it was granted to the Bishop of Salisbury, and in 1648 it passed temporarily into secular hands. The mansion-house was formerly leased to the Brownes and Larders, with other demesnes of the manor. The Brownes were in occupation in the 16thc and the Larders in the 17th century. Not far from the church are the remains of an ancient stone building supposed to have been the priory house. <1>

The present house of Loders Court stands on the [area of the] Priory. <4>

A lesser alien Benedictine house, dissolved in the 15thc or earlier, with an income exceeding £100. <5>

The Priory was dissolved with other alien houses in 1411. The monastic buildings seem to have stood to the N. of the church, and some rubble walling in the cellars of Loders Court may be the fragmentary remains of the Priory. The church [apparently originally the Priory Church] is still in use. Loders Court was almost entirely rebuilt at the end of the 18th century and has modern additions on the East. Some rubble walling in the cellars may be the remains of Loders Priory. <6>

Similar information; full ecclesiastical history, list of Priors etc. <8>

Loders: An alien Benedictine priory founded temp. Hen I, and dissolved c. 1414, when it was granted to Syon Abbey. Loders was dependent on Montebourg and was one of the larger alien priories with possibly 5 or 6 monks. Its income in 1387 exceeded £70. Parts are still in ecclesiastical use. <9>

The Manor House or Loders Court as it is now called twice descended to the level of a farmhouse. Parts of the South wall of the court are 13ft thick and I consider they are likely to represent the remains of the monastic house. From the cellar a passage begins to issue towards the church and midway between the cellar and the church is an air shaft. I see no reason why the Ordnance Survey should have its siting symbol situated where it is. Loders Court still carries Manorial rights.

Sir Edward le Breton pointed out the portion of wall referred to in T4 but there was no opportunity for careful examination. It is a very short portion in the south wall and 8.0m from the South West corner of the court. The shaft and passage were also pointed out. They are situated at A. The majority of the walling in the cellars are brick but fragments of stone rubble walling occur in the South of the Western end of the Court. No dateable feature of antiquity was found. The walling may have been part of a manor house or part of a monastic building. The conventual church - now the parish church is still in use for divine service. The building referred to in <1> could not be traced. The concensus of opinion puts the priory buildings North of the church. There was no visible trace of antiquity at the point where the siting symbol is placed on OS 6" 1931. <7>

Loders had chapels at Bradpole, Dottery and Uploders. It is not certain whether Lodersw as an early minster, or whether these characteristics of a mother church were assumed after its donation to Monteburgh. <10>

<1> Shipp, W, and Hodson, J W (eds), 1863, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. 3rd edition. Volume 2, 306-7, 311 (Monograph). SWX1269.

<2> Page, W (ed), 1908, The Victoria History of the County of Dorset 2 (Monograph). SWX1805.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1931 (Map). SWX1540.

[SY 4917 9427] BENEDICTINE PRIORY [GT] (Site of) [SY 49149430] Loders Court on site of MANOR HOUSE [GT]

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1932, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1931, LXXXII (Serial). SDO35.

<5> Hadcock, R N, 1950, Ordnance Survey Monastic Britain (South sheet) (Map). SWX3637.

<6> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 139-140 (Monograph). SDO97.

'(3) Loders Court, house, 20 yards N.E. of the parish church is of two storeys with cellars and attics. The walls are of stone faced with stucco and the roofs are slate-covered. Some rubble walling in the cellars may be the fragmentary remains of Loders Priory. The house was almost entirely rebuilt at the end of the 18th century and has modern additions on the E. The N. front of the 18th-century house is symmetrically designed ; there is a porch in the centre, a plain flat string at first-floor level, a simple cornice and a parapet wall alternating with short lengths of balustrading. The porch has four Roman Doric columns, the two in the centre coupled, and an entablature with triglyphs and mutules centred over each column. The window openings are plain. The W. front has features similar to those of the N. front and a mid 19th-century treillage supporting a flared roof the full width of the ground floor. The arrangement of the S. front is largely hap-hazard and the E. is concealed by later additions. Inside, in the cellars is a short length of stone walling with rough square plinths. On the ground floor, the S.E. room contains a late 18th-century marble fireplace-surround with entablature and frieze-panel carved with an urn and rams’ heads. The staircase-hall is semi-circular at the S. end and contains its original stair with wrought-iron balusters. The house retains a number of early 19th-century fittings. '

<7> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 02-MAY-55 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<8> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 1 (Monograph). SDO148.

<9> Knowles, D, and Neville Hadcock, R, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales, 87 (Monograph). SDO11249.

<10> Hall, T A, 2000, Minster Churches in the Dorset Landscape (Monograph). SDO10264.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 2:15PM