The Grange

Cistercian monasteries managed their agricultural land with the help of granges, which were small farms worked by lay brothers under the supervision of the granger, who was responsible to the mother-house. These granges usually had a barn (with some accommodation for the lay brothers), animal sheds, and an oratory or place to pray. These buildings were often surrounded by a ditch, hedge or wall, and there might even have been a protective gatehouse. Eighteen granges are recorded in the Herefordshire Historic Environment Record, several belonging to Dore Abbey. Some granges also had mills, fishponds or dovecots.

Cluniac House at Clifford was a small Cistercian priory founded by Simon Fitzwalter during the time of Henry I (1100-1135). Today Priory Farm stands on the site of the medieval priory.

The Dominicans and Franciscans came to Hereford in the 13th century. Blackfriars, near Widemarsh Street, became the Dominican establishment after a move from the Eign Gate suburb. The picturesque remains of Blackfriars are to be found next to St. John's Museum on Widemarsh Street. There is a pretty little garden and a restored preaching cross. The Franciscans were located just outside Friar's Gate, to the west of the town. 

Apart from the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller foundations which are mentioned in the section on the crusades, there were several other minor religious houses in Herefordshire, such as the Benedictine Priory at Kilpeck and the Augustinian Priory at Flanesford, near Goodrich.

[Original author: Toria Forsyth-Moser, 2002-3]