page_title: Farewell Priory
section_title: Estates
hierarchical_section_title: Farewell Priory / Estates
caption_attribution_description: This image is a JPEG version of the original PNG image at File: King John from De Rege Johanne.png. Generally, this JPEG version should be used when displaying the file from Commons, in order to reduce the file size of thumbnail images. However, any edits to the image should be based on the original PNG version in order to prevent generation loss, and both versions should be updated. Do not make edits based on this version. &#160;See here for more information. King John of England, 1167-1216. Illuminated manuscript, De Rege Johanne, 1300-1400. MS Cott. Claud DII, folio 116, British Library.
context_page_description: Farewell Priory was a Benedictine nunnery near Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. Although it received considerable episcopal support, it was always small and poor. It was dissolved in 1527 as a by-product of Cardinal Wolsey's scheme to establish a college within Oxford University.
context_section_description: As well as conferring the church of St Mary at Farewell, with a mill and wood, Roger de Clinton's charter to the nuns gave them the land between the banks of two streams, called Chistalea and Blachesiche. Included are the labour service, tenures and homes of six families of serfs. The bishop also confirmed donations from two others: assarts and lands at Pipe, given by the bishop's chaplain, Hugh, and half a hide given by Hamminch of Hammerwich. The donation of Hamminch was to be split in two, with half held by the convent in demesne and the other half held of the church by Hamminch's heir. Walter Durdent, Roger de Clinton's successor, appended a confirmation to the charter, adding the lands and service of Alurich de Quadraria and his sons, which were valued at six shillings per annum. The grant is explicitly stated to be monialibus de Faurwelle, to the nuns of Farewell.
  Henry II granted a charter to the nuns of Farewell when at Radmore, now Red Moor, south of Cannock Wood. There seem to be longer and shorter versions of the same document but both are recorded as witnessed apud Rademoram. Henry II is known to have stayed at Radmore in February 1155, and the charter was probably issued during this visit. The king listed a number of properties and rights he wished to confirm.
  The location and foundation of the abbacie sue apud Fagerwellan in foresta mea de Chanoc: their abbey at Farewell in the royal forest of Cannock or Cannock Chase.
  3 carucates of demesne land at Farewell, with the homages and mills that went with them
  8 acres worth 2 shillings per annum at Farewell, the gift of Robert the reeve and Thomas his son.
  Marsh or moorland that could be turned into meadow.
  1 carucate at Pipe assarted from the king's forest.
  1 carucate at Hammerwich cum villani et franchelano nomine Hamone Vielario: with villeins and a franklin or free man named Hamon the fiddler, together with their tenancies and some pasture. The name of the franklin seems very similar to that of  Hamminch, the original donor of Hammerwich, and may be him or his heir.
  40 acres at Lindhurst in the king's own manor of Alrewas: an area assarted from the waste in  Cannock Chase and lying along the edge of the bishop's land. This came with manorial rights, including pannage, pasturage, and access to waterways.
  A promise to recognise all reasonable future gifts which the priory might acquire.
  Release and freedom from all secular services, including a number of specified court duties and taxes.
  Around 1170 Geoffrey Peche granted land and a man to cultivate it at "Morhale" as the dowry of Sara, his daughter, when she entered Farewell – commonly a source of small endowments for nunneries. The Peche family were prominent in Warwickshire and the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield at the time was Richard Peche, one of two to bear that surname in the 12th century. It was the bishop who had originally given Geoffrey the land that he conveyed to Farewell.
  On 3 April 1200 King John confirmed the grants enumerated by his father, Henry II. Once again the nunnery was referred to as abbatia, an abbey. In the same year Farewell was listed as a nunnery receiving royal alms of 40 shillings, alongside its daughter house of Langley Priory and nearby Blithbury Priory. The pipe rolls for 1203–4 record alms of 6 marks, double the original amount, to the same houses and some others. These were useful windfalls but never developed into a regular income for Farewell or the other houses.
  In 1251 Henry III recognised an important exemption of Farewell by mandating the seneschal of Cannock Forest to refrain from collecting pannage dues, as these were contrary to the liberties the nuns had from his royal predecessors. There is scattered evidence from the same century that Farewell held other small estates. The transfer of a serf at Chorley from the priory to a canon of Lichfield Cathedral shows that Chorley was held by Farewell Priory. In 1279 the prior of the Augustinian Llanthony Priory, then in Gloucestershire, sued the prioress of Farewell for rents and services he claimed were due for a hold
caption: King John on a stag hunt
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