The priory was found sometime between 1173 and 1175, by one Gerard fitz-Brian, a local landowner and burgess, and settled by canons from Darley Abbey, Derbyshire.

[1] Fitz-Brain's original grant to the priory included 70 acres of land around the River Sow and use of property in Stafford, subject to an annual rent of 8 shillings.

Bishop Peche gifts the house land in Lichfield, Cannock and Baswich, as well as the rights to fish on the rivers Sow and Penk.

From the local landowners, such as the de Mutton family of Ingestre Hall, they received land grants in Tixall, Stone and Donisthorpe.

[1] St. Thomas near Stafford continued to grow during the late Middle Ages and it was one of the wealthier houses of the order in Staffordshire.

[1] A 1347 visit by Roger Northburgh, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, showed that frequent absences of the subprior had led to a lack of discipline among the brothers.

In October 1539, the priory was granted to Rowland Lee, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, passing to his nephew Brian Fowler on his death.