Holywell Priory - Curtain Road, London, UK
N 51° 31.494 W 000° 04.813
30U E 702539 N 5712240
This brown plaque, erected by the London Borough of Hackney to mark the Holywell Priory, is located on the east side of Curtain Road a short distance north of the junction with Great Eastern Street.
Waymark Code: WMN0T2
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/04/2014
Views: 1
Wikipedia has an article about Holywell Priory that tells us:
Haliwell or Holywell Priory (various spellings) was a religious house in Shoreditch, formerly in Middlesex, and now in the London Borough of Hackney. The Victoria County History for Middlesex describes it as the priory of St. John the Baptist at Haliwell, a house of Augustinian canonesses.
Also known as Halliwell, or Halywell, it was refounded by Thomas Lovell in the sixteenth century, who was buried there. It stood in Holywell Lane on the west side of Shoreditch, and sometimes was said to be a Benedictine foundation and attributed to a Bishop of London. It was in fact set up by Robert Fitz Generan in the twelfth century.
The details for Holywell Priory in the dissolution of the monasteries are not well documented, but by 1539 its possessions were being removed and the prioress was pensioned off.
This website also tells us:
In the Middle Ages, the Augustinian Priory of St. John the Baptist in Haliwell dominated the eastern area. It was built near a sacred or holy well. The Church was south of New Inn Yard. Holywell was founded by 1158, covered 8 acres, and was the richest Augustinian nunnery in the country. The street pattern round the walls largely survives, being Shoreditch High Street, Holywell Lane, Curtain Road and Batemans Row. The Priory site was split up at the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. Several stone finds have been made. Curtain Road was named after the curtain wall there. At the north end of Shoreditch High Street was an ancient stone cross.