About the same time that Guisborough Priory was founded, circa 1119, Robert de Brus of Skelton, who founded the Priory also had a hand in founding a Nunnery at Hutton. Hoton Priory, according to Monasticon Anglicanum (page 100), Hoton Priory was founded by Ralph de Nevil with the license of Adam de Brus and Ernald de Percy.
The convent didn’t remain at Hutton for many years, about four, apparently, before it moved to Nunthorpe with a mill on the River Tame (Tame Bridge at Tanton) and subsequently to Basedale. William de Percy was a benefactor to this Nunnery at Baysdale and ‘gifts were recited and confirmed by King Henry III in the twentieth year of his realm (circa 1236). The Monasticon Anglicanum (page 100) records Basedale but doesn’t mention the existence at Nunthorpe.
HER records Nunthorpe Priory ( ex Middlesbrough Council Archaeology records?) mention Nunthorpe Priory being moved from Hutton in 1167 and then moved to Baysdale in 1189. The HER Record suggests it was the ‘Old Nunhouse’ of Basedale and situated south of Nunthorpe Hall. The convent may well have then moved to Basedale Priory, close to Baysdale Abbey. (Near Kildale and Westerdale) and not far from Stokesley, Nunthorpe or Hutton. There was a mill close by, too. Further information and time line is available at BHO – British History Online, and at Nunthorpe parish council history.
Cistercians were a subset of the Benedictine order. Whitby Abbey was Benedictine.
Guisborough Priory was Augustinian and hence the canons and Monks freely went amongst the people and held positions in society. Hoton Priory was Cistercian and hence was a contemplative order. This seems to be at odds with the reference in Wikipidea that the Nuns were evicted from Hutton Lowcross because of their rowdy behaviour although their behaviour continued, apparently (according to Fhithich.uk), and hence were banished to the more remote Basedale.
Guisborough Priory is mentioned in Vol II of Monasticon Anglicanum (page 146). Vol II concentrates on the Augustinian order. The original building of Gisborough Priory was Romanesque in architecture and hence a stone built structure. No mention of the Cistercian Nunnery architecture is available but as it was at the same time, is likely to be Romanesque, too. It is said when underpinning the foundations of Home Farm stone arches, believed to be from the nunnery were found, The current owners of Home Farm thought they were from the Priory, but are more likely from remains found in the field opposite. In the 1960’s an archaeological dig found some stone walls and pottery, but little else. It was implied that these were the remnants of the St. Leonards Leper Hospital that was also in the vicinity. It may well be that the Hospital, which was founded after the Hoton Priory was abandoned, used the same buildings or remnants thereof.
This area was ‘remodelled’ around 1854 when the railway was built and a spur to Codhill mine was put in. Earthworks are evident in the field from this railway cutting and the tramways from the Codhill mine complex. In the West wall of the farm buildings, now residences, and the East wall of the farmhouse have carved stones of an ecclesiastical nature.
English Heritage has a number of pages providing background history to Abbies and Priories. This one, Nuns in medieval England, provides an insight into pre and post conquest life in Nunneries and Monastries. The Nunnaries were often linked to wealthy families who acted as benefactors and provided a form of ‘finishing school’ for daughters and spinsters. Because the nuns did not enter the Nunnery with the idea of contemplating God on their minds, discipline was often lax. Other Abbots and Prioresses would visit on a regular basis to establish how a particular house was doing. Often fault was found, and this seems to be the case with Hutton Priory and subsequently Nunthorpe and Basedale Priories.
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