Bradsole

Title

Bradsole

Also Known As

Brodesol, Saint Radegund's, St Radigund's Abbey, St Radagund by Dover

Dates

Founded 1193; dissolved 1596

Dedication

Radegund

Affiliation

Prémontré

Medieval Diocese

Canterbury

History

The abbey was founded in 1193 by Hugh, who would become Bradsole's first abbot. Its first brothers came from Prémontré.

While the abbey was active in local affairs, Bradsole was never a wealthy community. Bradsole was suppressed during the Reformation and the property passed into private hands. In 1880, the site was partly excavated. The abbey's gatehouse is still extant.

Heads of Community

Abbots

Hugh, fl. bef. 1220
Simon, fl. 1221
Richard I, fl. 1222
Henry I, 1241-1265
John I, 1273-1278
William I, 1297-ca. 1312
Robert of Monyngeham, 1325-1327
Richard II of Offynton, 1327-?
Henry II of S., ?-1345
John II Retlyng, 1345-ca. 1354
Warisius de Cant, 1362-?
Richard Brygge, ?-1386/87
Clement, 1387-1391
John III Strete, ca. 1393-1396/97
William, fl. 1409
John IV, ca. 1415-ca. 1422
William II, ca. 1427-ca. 1446
John V Petre, ?-1454
John VI Chilton, 1454-ca. 1456
Thomas I, fl. 1464
Ingram Fraunce, 1464-1475/82
Henry III?
John VII Hey, fl. 1488
John VIII Newynton (or Newton), 1491-1500
Thomas II Willouse, fl. 1509
William III Bukler, 1523-1529
John VIII Wylmerton (or Lorde), 1530-?
Thomas III Dale, 1532-1537

Status

Abbey

Archival Sources

Canterbury, Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library

CCA-DCc-ChAnt/A/41/15 (13th c.)

CCA-DCc-ChAnt/A/41/19 (13th c.)

CCA-DCc-ChAnt/A/41/29 (1271/2)

CCA-DCc-ChAnt/A/176 (1349)

CCA-DCc-ChAnt/C/257H (1342/3)

CCA-DCc-ChAnt/E/203 (13th c.)

CCA-DCc-ChAnt/L/361 (1349)

CCA-DCc-ChAnt/M/364/18 (1242)

CCA-DCc-ChAnt/S/389 (1328)

Kew, The National Archives

C 84/36/49 (1397)

E 134/29Eliz/Hil17 (1586)

London, Lambeth Palace Library

TT 1, pp. 91-204 (17th c.; "Ex registro cartarum amplo sane et antiquo, Abbatie Sancte Radegund' propre Dovor spectantium")

Maidstone, Kent History and Library Centre

EK-U270/T202/1,2 (1468-1483)

Oxford, Bodleian Library

MS Rawlinson B 336. (13th c.; cartulary)

Swindon, Historic England Archive

AL0265/053/01 (1924; ground plan)

Bibliography

Davis, M. C. J. “St Radegund’s Abbey: A Re-Assessment of the Abbey Church.” Archaeologia Cantiana 126 (2006): 239–56. https://kentarchaeology.org.uk/node/12736.
Hope, W. H. St John. “On the Praemonstratensian Abbey of St. Radegund, Bradsole in Polton, near Dover.” Archaeologia  Cantiana 14 (1882): 140–52. https://books.google.com/books?id=CqMJAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA140.
Huitson, Toby. “Danger – Falling Masonry: Rebuilding the Ruins of St Radegund’s Abbey, Kent.” M.A. Thesis, University of Kent, 2004.
Page, William, ed. “Houses of Premonstratensian Canons: The Abbey of Bradsole or St Radegund.” In A History of the County of Kent, vol. 2, 172–75. London, 1926. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/kent/vol2/pp172-175.
Parfitt, Keith. “A Monastery in Decline: St Radegund’s Abbey.” Current Archaeology, August 2008.
Stocker, David A. “St Radegund’s Abbey, Bradsole - A Place in Time?” Society for Church Archaeology Newsletter & Annual Report 18 (2017): 4–8. https://www.churcharchaeology.org/_files/ugd/c2a215_a11484775fea47bc985d371eba7cf85a.pdf.
Sweet, Alfred H. “The Library of St. Radegund’s Abbey.” The English Historical Review 53, no. 29 (January 1938): 88–93. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/LIII.CCIX.88.
Winbolt, S. E. “St. Radegund’s Abbey, Dover.” Archaeologia Cantiana 43 (1931): 187–98. https://kentarchaeology.org.uk/node/10641.

Image Credit

Remains of St Radegund's Abbey, 2016. Wikimedia.

Last Updated

Oct. 2026.

Files

Collection

Southern England

Citation

“Bradsole,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/51.

Geolocation

Item Relations

This Item DependentOn Item: Prémontré
Item: Portslade DependentOn This Item
Item: Postling DependentOn This Item
Item: Shepherdswell DependentOn This Item
Item: Alkham DependentOn This Item