Sir William De Cloptunne of Wickhambrook

Sir William De Cloptunne lived during the reigns of Richard the First (1189-1154) and the early reign of Henry III (1216-1272). He had two sons: Walter De Cloptone (Cloptunne) of Wickhambrook and Richard De Cloptone (Cloptunne).

The ruins of a small priory are located on the land granted to the Cloptons after the conquest in 1066. In the early 1100's, there was a great push by the Catholic Church to establish places of worship in England. The great Norman lords of England demonstrated their piety and devotion by erecting cathedrals, monasteries and priories. The exact date of the foundation of this priory is not known, however, the earliest records pertaining to it are of the year 1235. It seems very likely the priory was built much earlier than this as the stones may have come from Caen, Normandy. Only a few beautifully carved stones remain from the original building. Gene Carlton Clopton's A Brief History of Chipley Priory states: "The style of the moulding is typical of the beautiful work done by the East Anglian school of Anglo-Saxon masons. Their work was strongly influenced by ideas imported from Norman architectural developments in France to which they added their own flair for creativity to ease the stern and austere effects common in much of Norman design."

Chipley Priory, which was originally knows as The Priory of the Blessed Virgin Mary, belonged to the Augustinian Canons (also, Canons Regular) during pre-reformation times. Canons are members of a religious group living according to a canon, or rules. The Augustinian Canons following rules based on the love of God and neighbor, respect for authority, care of the sick, and self-discipline. They were known as the Black Canons because of their black robes. The person in charge of a priory was called a prior. If the priory was subject to a resident abbot, the house was then called an abbey or monastery.

It is almost certain Sir William De Cloptunne is buried there and possibly his ancestors. In addition to the Cloptons Roger the Norman who died in 1363 and his wife, Joan, date of death not known, are buried at Chipley.

In June of 1990, a small monument was erected at Chipley Priory on a small plot of land which the Wheatley family, current owners of the site, generously sold to the Clopton Family Association of America for that purpose. The monument, designed by John Burton, consists of a brass plaque mounted on a monolith of limestone giving a brief history of the site and the names of those known to have been buried at the Priory.

The Clopton family transferred the family center to Long Melford before 1400, and by 1455 the buildings were in a ruinous state. The priory was annexed to the College of Stoke-by-Clare in 1468. A large part of the original structure seems to have been incorporated into the farmhouse, which now occupies the site. The Wheatley's recently discovered numerous human bones when digging a new garden beside their farmhouse. They re-interred the bones in the garden. They also discovered a chapel bell and stone sarcophagus, which have been placed at Poslingford Church. A lead coffin known to have once been on the site and used as a watering trough for many years has been lost.

Based on :

Articles Originally Appearing in the August 1989 and 1990 Issues of the
Clopton Family Newsletter
by Isabel Lancaster (Clopton) Steiner
and James M McMillen, mcmillen@arlington.net

The Ancestors and Descendants of William Clopton of York County, Virginia,
Compiled by Gene Carlton Clopton, Phoenix Printing, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia

A Brief History of Chipley Priory
by Gene Carlton Clopton

Suellen Clopton Blanton, bblanton@fast.net.

Special thanks to the Wheatley Family of Chipley Abbey Farm.