Legend has it that Wulfad and his brother Rufin were killed by their father King Wulfhere of Mercia after converting to Christianity against his wishes.

Filled with remorse he allowed their mother Queen Ermenilda, a daughter of Eorcenberht, King of Kent, to found a priory on the site of their sons' grave.

The story on which it is possibly based is however set by Bede in another part of the country more than ten years after Wulfhere's death.

[6] Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII (1509-1547), the Priory was purchased by William I Crompton, a merchant from Stafford who made his fortune in London.

[1] Mandorla-shaped, as in the shape of an almond, customary for ecclesiastical seals, it depicts the Virgin Mary seated, holding up in her right hand a palm-frond of martyrdom.

[1] The seal was named as the 17th best historical find in the UK on Britain's Secret Treasures, a collaboration between the British Museum and ITV television.