Prittlewell

Prittlewell was a village in southern Essex, close to the Thames estuary. To its northeast stood the Cluniac priory of St Mary, founded on land granted by Robert fitz Suen in 1110 as a dependent house of Lewes. Its church and cloister made the priory a distinctive feature of the medieval landscape beside Prittle Brook.

The dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII changed the estate’s hands and purpose. The priory was granted to Thomas Audley, then passed to the Rich family, and parts of the religious buildings became a private residence. Further south, a group of farms on the priory’s lands was recorded as “South End” in 1481; that modest settlement would later grow into Southend.