Our Summer Social Evening was held at Maxstoke and was attended by over 40 members. We would like to extend our grateful thanks to Mr and Mrs Tyacke for generously allowing the Dugdale Society to visit their home, and for kindly giving us access to the Inner Gatehouse, which is now the main house of Maxstoke Priory Farm. This was originally the Prior’s lodgings and dates to the early fourteenth-century. It is particularly famed for its sixteenth-century ceiling, enriched with moulded main beams and painted with shields of arms. Outside it is possible to trace the footings and remains of many of the conventual buildings within the walls, including the Priory church, the Outer Gatehouse, the Infirmary as well as other buildings. Artefacts recovered in an excavation made during the 1860s, including floor tiles and fragments of stained glass, are to be seen in Maxstoke parish church.
The Social began with an introductory talk by Professor Chris Dyer followed by a tour of Maxstoke Parish Church and Priory, with commentary provided by Dr Andrew Watkins and Dr Colin Hayfield. Refershments were then served at Maxstoke Village Hall.
With the exception of the Carthusian house at Coventry, Maxstoke Priory was the last of the major religious houses to be founded in later medieval Warwickshire. In 1336 William de Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon, founded a priory of Austin Canons in Maxstoke, dedicated to the Holy and Individual Trinity, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Michael the Archangel and All Saints. It was dissolved in 1536. The Priory is now largely a ruin, and in private ownership. It is not usually open to the general public.
