Black Ladies Priory
Black Ladies today: a large private residence incorporating 16th and 17th century structures erected by the Giffard family after the dissolution of the priory.
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 Location within Staffordshire
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| Monastery information | |
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| Full name | Convent of St. Mary of the Black Ladies |
| Other names | Community of the Black Nuns at Brewood |
| Order | Benedictine |
| Established | Mid-12th century |
| Disestablished | 1538 |
| Dedicated to | Mary, mother of Jesus |
| Diocese | Diocese of Coventry and Lichfield |
| Controlled churches |
Broome, Worcestershire Possibly Rode, Somerset |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Possibly Roger de Clinton |
| Important associated figures |
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| Site | |
| Location | Near Brewood |
| Coordinates | 52°40′53″N 2°13′38″W / 52.6815°N 2.2271°WCoordinates: 52°40′53″N 2°13′38″W / 52.6815°N 2.2271°W |
| Public access | no |
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Listed Building – Grade II*
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| Official name | Black Ladies |
| Designated | 16 May 1953 |
| Reference no. | 1039336 |
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Listed Building – Grade II*
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| Official name | Garden walls to east, north and south of Black Ladies, with gate piers |
| Designated | 16 May 1953 |
| Reference no. | 1039337 |
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Listed Building – Grade II
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| Official name | Tudor Barn, Blackladies |
| Designated | 28 March 1985 |
| Reference no. | 1374042 |
Black Ladies Priory was a house of Benedictine nuns, located about 4 km west of Brewood in Staffordshire, on the northern edge of the hamlet of Kiddemore Green. Founded in the mid-12th century, it was a small, often struggling, house. It was dissolved in 1538, and a large house was built on the site in Tudor and Jacobean styles by the Giffard family of Chillington Hall. Much of this is incorporated in the present Black Ladies, a large, Grade II*-listed, private residence.
The priory was dedicated to St. Mary but was often simply referred to as Black Ladies and the elided form, Blackladies, is also used. The Benedictine nuns resident in the priory wore black habits, but this was so elsewhere too. The use of the term Black Ladies for the Brewood priory is in contradistinction to another priory in the neighbourhood - an Augustinian convent dedicated to St. Leonard and known as White Ladies Priory. The two priories were founded at about the same time and were of about the same size and importance. Medieval documents, particularly in the reign of Henry III frequently refer to the nuns or the priory of Brewood without indicating which community is meant. It would have made sense to distinguish the communities by the colour of their habits.
The precise formula used to refer to the convent officially evidently varied through time. The 14th century seal of the priory bore the words: SIGILLUM CONVENTUS SANCTE MARIE NIGRARUM DOMINARUM - Seal of the Convent of St. Mary of the Black Ladies. A partial seal surviving from 1538 shows a seated Madonna and Child in a canopied niche with the inscription: [S]IGILLUM COMMUNE NIGRARUM MONIALIUM DE BRE. . . - presumably meaning Seal of the Community of the Black Nuns at Brewood. Evidently the dedication to the Virgin Mary continued to the end.
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