Sandwell Priory

The founder of Sandwell Priory was William, son of Guy de Offeni. Guy is known to have held West Bromwich around 1140 and was still alive in 1155. William was in charge by 1166 and was succeeded by his son, Richard, by 1212, although he may have survived a little longer. William Fitz Guy was a principal tenant of Gervase de Paynel or Pagnell, who held the lordship of Dudley, his grandfather having married Beatrice, daughter of William Fitz-Ansculf the great territorial magnate who held much of the Midlands after the Norman Conquest. The promotion of monasticism was evidently a shared interest of lord and tenants. When Gervase founded Dudley Priory around the middle of the 12th century as a…

The priory buildings stood in a rectangular enclosure, with boundary ditches on at least three sides. Initially there were two wooden domestic buildings, adjoining a stone church, which later became the chancel as the nave was extended westwards from it. The wooden buildings were rebuilt in stone within a few decades and then partially rebuilt again a century later. The church in its completed form was oriented to the east. It had a crossing, with north and south transepts. The chancel had an apsidal east end. The crossing was surmounted by a rectangular belfry. There were pairs of chapels to both north and south. In the 15th century the church was reduced in size – understandably in view…