The priory continued to benefit from the support of local elites, many of whose gifts were accompanied by requests to be buried at Boxgrove. This was done in the hope that the monks’ prayers would hasten the passage of their souls through the pains of purgatory to eternal bliss in heaven.

The gift of a canon (a senior member of the clergy) of nearby Chichester Cathedral in 1230 enabled the size of the community to increase to 19 monks. The priory maintained its connection with the St John family, with one of the monks serving as chaplain at their manor house at nearby Halnaker.

Numerous benefactors made grants to provide the monks with ‘pittances’. These were special allowances of wine, fine bread or spices which were distributed to the monks on the anniversary of the benefactor’s death: the monks rewarded such generosity with prayers for the benefactor’s soul. Other patrons were rewarded with admission to the priory’s confraternity, or brotherhood, which gave them spiritual benefits as if they were fully professed members of the community. Those granted admission included both men and women.

Boxgrove supported a number of corrodians – individuals who were given daily allowances of bread, ale, fuel and, in some instances, accommodation. Their number could include former servants and retainers, or people who retired to the monastery, providing a cash lump sum for their upkeep until death.

Relations with Lessay

Relations with Lessay were not always harmonious. At the end of the 13th century, its abbot attempted to interfere with the right of the Boxgrove monks to elect their own prior. The monks mounted a spirited defence, their case reaching the papal chancery in Rome. In 1286, Pope Honorius IV appointed the Prior of Arundel and Dean of Chichester to adjudicate.

War between England and France further complicated relationships between Boxgrove and its Norman mother house. As a so-called ‘alien priory’ – a priory which was dependent on a French monastery – Boxgrove was vulnerable to the seizure of its assets by the English Crown. To avoid this, in 1337 the prior was ordered to pay a £60 fine and an annual fee of £30 to the king. This was beyond the means of the priory. It only escaped financial calamity after showing that it had always had the right to elect one of its own monks as prior, rather than accepting the abbot of Lessay’s appointee. Boxgrove secured independence from Lessay two years later.

There is some evidence that Boxgrove was hard hit by the Black Death. The plague arrived in England in the summer of 1348 and was soon raging across the kingdom. Two priors of Boxgrove died in quick succession in the winter and spring of 1348–9, probably from the plague.

The Dissolution and after

However, Boxgrove was soon swept up in the religious changes of the reign of Henry VIII. In early 1537, Boxgrove was dissolved as one of the ‘lesser’ monasteries. At this time, the community consisted of the prior, eight monks (all priests), a novice, 28 servants and eight children, the latter probably schoolboys. The commissioner responsible for the priory’s suppression wrote to Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s chief minister, saying that thanks to Lord de la Warr’s assistance, more profit was made from the dissolution of Boxgrove than any other monastery in Sussex.

The priory’s buildings, including those around the cloister, were granted to Lord de la Warr. These were rapidly reduced to ruin, though the ‘founders’ lodging’ was allowed to stand. The nave of the church also perished, the parish taking over the monks’ portion in the eastern parts, the location of the de la Warr chantry.

Starting in the 18th century, the history of the priory and its ruins attracted the attention of antiquarians and artists. The latter included Samuel and Nathaniel Buck, who in 1737 published an engraving of the church and surviving portions of the roofless monastic buildings.