Haltemprice Priory

Haltemprice Priory was an Augustinian monastery approximately two miles south of the village of Cottingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.

At the peak of its influence, the Priory controlled a large swathe of land extending from Willerby to Cottingham, Kirk Ella and Southwood.

Despite the personal, political, financial and military problems affecting him – including the capture of his castle at Liddell by King David of Scotland – Thomas Wake continued to bestow gifts upon the priory until 1342 when records of further benefactions cease.

A combination of mounting debt, administrative incompetence and a string of expensive litigation drained the ecclesiastical finances to the point where Priory could no longer be sustained by the flow of donations it received from its benefactors.

In a report issued to Pope John XXIII (Antipope) in 1411 it was revealed that a gale had blown down the bell-tower, ruining the church and other buildings and that a fire had destroyed the Priory gateway and nearby offices.

In 1515 a dispute came to pass between John Wymersley, the Prior of Haltemprice, and Edward Mattison, the Sheriff of Hull, over who possessed legal authority over Willerby and Wolfreton.