Beadlow Priory

Beadlow Priory was a monastic foundation established between 1140 and 1146 by Robert D'Albini for a community of Benedictine monks.

Around 1140 the lands of Beadlow Manor were granted to the priory at Millbrook in Hertfordshire, from where the community were moved upon the establishment of the new priory at Beadlow, Bedfordshire, England about 10 km south of Bedford. Initially referred to as Beaulieu Priory, it remained cell of the Abbey at St Albans.

Poverty made the community unsustainable and in 1428 the monks left the priory, which became absorbed into St Albans Abbey. In 1434 the ownership of the priory passed to the Crown, whilst the site was finally abandoned as a monastic settlement in 1435.

The decay of the buildings ensued after this time, and by 1908 there existed no intact above-ground remains.

From 1963 to 1965 archaeological excavations unearthed the foundations as well as artifacts dating to the 12th to 15th centuries.

The establishment was close to Chicksands Priory.

ee also

*Abbeys and priories in England