Hodsock Priory

Hodsock has been occupied since at least the Bronze Age and evidence of occupation from the Bronze Age, the Romans and Saxons is found in the gardens. Hodsock was mentioned in the Domesday Book: - 'In Hodsock Wulfsi had 2 carucates of land taxable'. (A carucate was 120 acre of land.) The Cressey family, who owned Hodsock from the mid-12th century for more than 200 years, were powerful enough to entertain kings of England - Henry II, John and Edward I. The Clifton family took over the estate at the beginning of the 15th century and owned it through 14 generations to 1765. The Tudor Gatehouse was built in the early 16th Century by Sir Gervase Clifton (1516-1688) who was the favourite of…

Hodsock Priory was sold by Sir Gervase Clifton in 1765, to William and his son Charles Mellish of Blyth Hall which was nearby. When Charles Mellish died in 1797 his son Henry Francis Mellish inherited both Blyth Hall and Hodsock Priory. Henry Francis Mellish (1782-1817) was the second son of Charles Mellish and therefore not normally the heir. However his elder brother Joseph was disinherited because of his extravagance and gambling. Henry proved to be of similar character and by 1806 he was obliged to sell Blyth Hall to pay his gambling debts. Hodsock Priory then became the main residence of the Mellish family. When he died in 1817 his sister Anne Chambers (1781-1855) inherited the house…