Durford

Title

Durford

Also Known As

Derfordense, Dureford

Dates

Founded ca. 1161; dissolved 1536

Dedication

Mary; John the Baptist

Affiliation

Welbeck

Medieval Diocese

Chichester

History

Durford was founded in 1161 by Henry Husey. The abbey suffered a two serious robberies and a fire in the 15th century, which contributed to its decline. It was suppressed in 1534 and the property passed into private hands. Parts of the monastic complex survive today, incorporated into later structures on the site.

Heads of Community

Abbots

Robert I, aft. 1174-1183
William I, 1198-1215
Jordan, fl. 1219
Robert II, fl. 1229
William II, 1231-bef. 1248
Valentinus, 1248-1252
Nicolas I, 1250s?
John I, 1258-1286
Osbertus, 1310-1315
John II, fl. 1321
Thomas I, 1323-1329
Henry I, fl. 1334
John II atte Re, fl. 1364
John III Heuerwyk, fl. 1380
John IV, fl. 1400
John V Chelchester, 1401-1404
John VI Ultyng, 1404-1411, 1418-?
Nicholas II Baldewyn, 1411-1418
Thomas II Dollynge, 1423-1432
Stephen Mersey (or Manyngton), ca. 1438-1444
William III, fl. 1445
Walter Mene, ca. 1454-1465
Robert III Knyppyng, 1465-1502
Robert IV York, 1502-1522
Henry II Skynner, 1528-1529
John VII Sympson (or Salisbury or Thetford), 1533-36

Status

Abbey

Archival Sources

Chichester, West Sussex Record Office

Par/98/7/14.

Par/98/7/15.

Par/98/7/58.

Kew, The National Archives

C 1/6/350 (15th c.)

E 210/8479 (1296/97)

E 321/34/9 (1531-1553)

London, British Library

Cotton Vespasian E. XXIII. (Late 13th/14th c., cartulary)

Woking, Surrey History Centre

LM/345/51.

Bibliography

Aldsworth, Frederick G. “Durford Abbey.” Sussex Archaeological Collections 117 (1979): 251. https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-285-1/dissemination/pdf/Vol_117_1979/SAC117_Shorter_Notices.pdf.

Blaauw, W.H. “Dureford Abbey, Its Fortunes and Misfortunes, with Some Particulars of the Premonstratensian Orde.” Sussex Archæological Collections 8 (1856): 41–96. http://www.archive.org/stream/sussexarchaeolo34socigoog#page/n70/mode/2up.

Boston, C. C. “Court Rolls of Durford Abbey.” Notes and Queries 157 (December 7, 1929): 406. https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/CLVII.dec07.406a.

King, Dennis. “The Cartulary of Durford Abbey, Sussex.” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Manitoba, 1979. http://hdl.handle.net/1993/14514.

Page, William, ed. “Houses of Premonstratensian Canons: Abbey of Dureford.” In A History of the County of Sussex, 2:89–92. London, 1973. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/sussex/vol2/pp89-92.

Phillips, Charles T. “Encaustic Tiles at Dureford Abbey and Selborne Priory.” Sussex Archæological Collections 38 (1892): 224. http://www.archive.org/stream/sussexarchaeolo46socigoog#page/n286/mode/2up.

Stevenson, Janet H. The Durford Cartulary. Lewes: Sussex Record Society, 2006. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015069200866.

———. “The Last Days of the Abbeys of Durford and Titchfield and a Case of Mistaken Identity.” Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society 71 (2016): 110–19. http://www.hantsfieldclub.org.uk/publications/hampshirestudies/digital/2010s/Vol_71/s8.pdf.

Image Credit

Remains of Durford Abbey, ca. 1850s. Wikimedia.

Files

Collection

Southern England

Citation

“Durford,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/92.

Geolocation