Hatfield Peverel Priory

[1][2][3][4] It is in the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England[5] and is located on the south side of the village of Hatfield Peverel, about 5 miles north-east of Chelmsford.

[6] According to tradition the priory was founded by the Saxon Ingelrica, wife of Ranulph Peverel and reputed to be the mistress of William the Conqueror, to atone for her sins.

[7] The current house, in a park designed by Richard Woods in 1765 and built in 1769, stands on a rise of land overlooking the Chelmer valley.

The estate then passed under entail to his nephew (i.e. his sister's son) Peter Luard, who took the name and arms of Wright as required under the will.

Tennant eventually purchased Hatfield Priory in 1928, following the death of the widow of John Wright V.[9] In 1935, one year before his death, Tennant sold it to the Marianhill Mission, a Catholic lay brotherhood, which made it their European headquarters until their closure in 1972, when the property, now with derelict grounds, was purchased as a speculation by Dolph Claydon, a property developer, who quickly sold it on to Derek Marriott who used it as a school, which closed in 1979.