OLD MIRFIELD DAYS - Mirfield - A Second Look

CHAPTER 11
Old Mirfield and its Relationship with The Priory of
Kirklees.
THE Cistercian Priory of Kirklees was situated in the township or parish of Hartshead in
Dewsbury. Its present claim to fame is its relationship with the outlaw Robin Hood.
It is usually acknowledged to have been founded by one of the Fleming family, who were domiciled at
that time at Wath-on-Dearne. They were a branch of the family sent originally to subdue the area by
William the Conqueror, which they did in no uncertain manner. Yorkshire generally was laid waste, a
scorched earth policy was enforced and not only this, but the whole of the populace was massacred.
This founder was called Reiner Le Fleming and he granted to the Priory of Kirklees a stretch of land
that covered the area from the old Walton Cross at Hartshead, across to Liversedge, to the Mirfield
boundary, which would be roughly as it is now, that is, to the Northern side of Mirfield Moor, bounded
by the beck that crosses under the road at Roe Head near the present boundary sign and down to the
river where they also built a mill, still there, and taking in the district which we knew as Blake Law or
Low, now part of the new M.62.
The Priory was now the owner of this fairly big stretch of land, its meadows, waters, woods, pastures
and twelve additional acres of land which they held as tenants of the Fleming family, so that they may
pray for their souls and for the souls of their fathers and heirs for ever.
The charter granting this land is confirmed by one William, Earl of Warren who died in 1240, who
states that the founder was the son of William Fleming, more or less fixing the date of the actual
founding of the Priory in the reign of Henry II. It is usually accepted that Elizabeth de Stainton was the
first Prioress; this is sometimes doubted, but it is recorded that she held conversations with the Abbot
of Roche (who held land from Rotherham to Saddleworth) regarding their respective domains. The
Kirklees Religious sphere of influence covered the same area practically as the Kirklees area of 1975,
that is from the Dewsbury-Batley boundary at Morley to Stanage, still bounded there by the Friarmore
area, a large part of which was held by my own ancestors as tenants of the Abbot of Roche prior to the
Reformation.
This same Elizabeth de Stainton is buried in a tomb behind the Three Nuns at Mirfield. An inscription
round the tomb reads "Sweet Jesus of Nazareth have mercy on the soul of Elizabeth de Stainton,
Prioress of this House". It is possible that she was the relative of Robin Hood usually accepted as being
responsible for his death by bleeding him, after which operation he shot his famous arrow.
The Priory enjoyed the income from various tracts of land, benefits of crops from areas as widely
distributed as Slaithwaite, Boroughbridge, Shelf and an especial grant of 18 acres of land and
messuages at Hartshead. An Inquisition was taken at York on the 22nd of January 1395 and it was
decided that it was not to the injury of the King or others if the King permit a knight, John of
Monteney, John Wodehouse, and William of Landale, to grant the Prioress of Kirklees 50 acres of land
with the appurtenances in Mirfield, and the advowson of the church in the same place, they find a
chaplain to celebrate divine service daily in the Conventual Church of Kirklees, and to receive the said
land and advowson an to appropriate the said church at Mirfield to their own use for ever. A later
licence in 1400 mentioned in addition to the above men, one William de Dransfield; this would be the
Dransfield who originally hailed from Liley Lane.
At this time the Prioress was to have all tithes in the form of sheaves of corn, hay, and the whole of the
fallen wood in the area together with the use of the rectory, the vicar to enjoy any small tithes and
profits accruing from his vicarate. As part of the surrender of Mirfield Church to the Prioress the
Convent undertook to provide, at their own cost, a dwelling house for the vicar and to bear all the
burdens likely to occur, the vicar paying 6/8d to the convent per annum for this. All their tithes in the
form of corn, etc., and any other income from Mirfield Church continued to be exacted by the Prioress
until the dissolution, in the case of Kirklees Priory, in 1540. The fifty acres of land granted to the
Priory along with the advowson of Mirfield Church would, I should think, have been the land
surrounding the present church and running down to the Northorpe area where the Mirfield of the
1500's was largely located. The actual 50 acres and its situation I have never seen pinpointed, in fact,
the circumstances regarding the granting of this land and church to the Priory gave rise to much
controversy at the time, it had evidently only been a very infrequent procedure and its legality was
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