Henwood Priory

Henwood Priory, also known as Estewll Priory, was a medieval monastic house in the West Midlands, England.[1] No ruins or earthworks exist today; the earthworks were flattened due to agriculture, although a possible moat still exists.

It was founded around 1161, although possibly as early as 1149 (during the reign of King Stephen or Henry II, under Walter Durdent, Bishop of Chester (Coventry)) by Ketelberne (Katelbern) de Langdon and it had confirmation of papal privilege from Gregory IX in 1228. It was extended in 1232, but it was in ruins by the early 1530s, and it was still ransacked and destroyed further by Henry VIII in 1536 during the Reformation. The ruins were later granted to John Higford around 1539/40; it is unknown what happened to the ruins after Highford died in 1602, although they were eventually demolished to make way for a large field.

The site where the priory once stood is supposedly haunted by 12 nuns who died from the Black Death in 1349. During the summer of 1349, 15 nuns were noted as living at the priory, but by August 19, 1349 12 nuns had died from the Black Death at Henwood Priory, including the Prioress (Mother Superior) Millicent de Fokerham, but the supposed "ghosts" have not been seen since 1976.