Halesowen Abbey

.]] Halesowen Abbey originated in a grant of the manor of Hales in 1214 by King John to Peter des Roches, then Bishop of Winchester, intended to allow Peter to found a religious house "of whatever order he pleased". On 27 October of that year the king issued instructions through letters close to the Sheriff of Staffordshire to give the bishop full seisin of the manor and all that pertained to it. The following year John issued a charter confirming the manor in frankalmoin to the "canons of the Premonstratensian order resident at Hales" (apud Hales). However, the official date for the foundation of Halesowen Abbey, as given by the Premonstratensian order, is 1218, at least three years after…

On 12 November 1227 Warin Fitz William and his wife Hawise conveyed to Halesowen Abbey 40 acres of land at Ab Lench. William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke quitclaimed to Halesowen Abbey the forty acres as well as common of pasture at Ab Lench for the souls of himself and his wife Eleanor, the king's sister. The abbey was to pay the annual rent of 4s at Inkberrow Castle. Subsequently, William granted the rent back to the abbot and canons. Eleanor, the king's sister, was a child of about twelve at the time of the grant: she was to be a living link between the leadership of the baronial opposition to successive kings, as she later married Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. Almost…

The ruins of the abbey are a scheduled monument and a Grade I listed building. The abbey is managed by English Heritage, but the surrounding land is privately owned with no public access, and the ruins can only be viewed from a distance.