Boxgrove Priory
Boxgrove Priory, in the village of Boxgrove in Sussex, was founded in about 1066 by Robert de Haye, who in 1105 bestowed the church of St. Mary of Boxgrove upon the Benedictine Abbey of Lessay. In about 1126 upon the marriage of Robert's daughter Cecily, to Roger St. John the number of monks living at Boxgrove was increased from the original three to six, and by 1187 there were a total of fifteen. The nineteenth monk was added to the priory in about 1230 by William de Kainesham, Canon of Chichester. By 1535 the priory's possessions were worth £185 19s. 8d. gross, and £145 10s. 2½d. clear.
The ruins are a Grade I listed building.
Dissolution
The Priory was dissolved in 1536. At the time of the dissolution there were eight priests and one novice, as well as twenty-eight servants and eight children living in the priory.
Modern history
The Priory church is still in use as the Church of St Mary and St Blaise. The Battle of Britain Pilot Billy Fiske is buried in the churchyard.
See also
Boxgrove
Coordinates: 50°51′33″N 0°42′46″W / 50.85928°N 0.71266°W
Boxgrove is a village and civil parish in the Chichester District of the English county of West Sussex, about five kilometres (3.5 miles) north east of the city of Chichester. The village is just south of the A285 road which follows the line of the Roman road Stane Street.
The parish has an area of 1,169 hectares (2,890 acres). According to the 2001 census it had a population of 901 people living in 423 households of whom 397 were economically active. Included in the parish are the hamlets of Strettington and Halnaker.
Governance
An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches North West to West Dean with a total population taken at the 2011 census of 2,235.
Archaeology
Boxgrove is best known for the Lower Palaeolithic archaeological site discovered in a gravel quarry known as Amey's Eartham Pit located near the village but in Eartham Parish. Parts of the site complex were excavated between 1983 and 1996 by a team led by Mark Roberts of University College London. Numerous Acheulean flint tools and remains of animals (some butchered) dating to around 500,000 years ago were found at the site. The area was therefore used by some of the earliest occupants of the British Isles. Remains of Homo heidelbergensis were found on the site in 1994, the only postcranial hominid bone to have been found in Northern Europe. Teeth from another individual were found two years later.
Boxgrove (UK electoral ward)
Boxgrove is an electoral ward of Chichester District, West Sussex, England and returns one member to sit on Chichester District Council.
