Axholme Charterhouse

Axholme Charterhouse or Axholme Priory, also Melwood Priory or Low Melwood Priory, North Lincolnshire, is one of the ten medieval Carthusian houses (charterhouses) in England. It was established in 1397/1398 by Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham and later Duke of Norfolk. The house was centred on a pre-existing chapel on the present Low Melwood Farm, between Owston Ferry and Epworth in the Isle of Axholme, which according to a papal bull of 1398 "was called anciently the Priory of the Wood".^[1]

The full name of the monastery was The House of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The prior, Saint Augustine Webster, was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1535 for refusing the Oath of Supremacy and later martyred and canonised.^[1]

The monastery was suppressed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in June 1538.

Afterwards the buildings were converted by John Candysshe into a house: parts still survive as do some earthworks. There has been limited excavation.^[1]^[2]

Priors of Axholme

John Moreby, elected 1398
Henry, occurs 1449
Richard, occurs 1469 and 1472
Augustine Webster, 1535
Michael Mekeness, 1535 to 1538^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Page, William, ed. (1 January 1906). "Houses of Carthusian monks: The priory of Axholme". A History of the County of Lincoln. Victoria County History. Vol. 2. pp. 158–160. ISBN 9780712910453. Retrieved 21 July 2013 – via British History online.
^ Historic England. "Axholme Priory (60927)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 21 June 2013.

Lincolnshire Architectural & Archaeological Society
Glyn Coppack and Mick Aston, nd: Christ's Poor Men - the Carthusians in England ISBN 0-7524-1961-7

Monasteries in Lincolnshire

Augustinian