This small priory was located on the N side of Calderdale, between Brighouse and Mirfield; however, little trace of it remains today. Most stonework from the site was removed to build the Jacobean Kirklees Hall: some of the stones there have the same mason’s marks as the stones found on this site (Armytage 1909, 27; Chadwick 1903, plate opposite p. 335). Excavations took place in 1863 and 1904-5 (Chadwick 1902). No remains of our period to be seen on site, nor has the loose sculpture noted in section VI been traced. When excavations ended, the position of the church and cloister was marked by the erection of boundary stones (Armytage 1909, 28).

There is no sculpture on the site.

The priory is not mentioned in the Domesday Book. Brown (1886) says the priory was founded in the reign of Henry II by Reyner Flandrensis or by Fleming. The charter is lost but it is reproduced in Dugdale’s Monasticon. The Armytage family (sometimes wrongly called Armitage) possessed the site in the reign of Elizabeth I, and stone was taken for the family’s hall. A buttress and two piers of the N nave arcade marked the site of the priory church in 1886.

The first paper by Armytage (1905-07) was re-issued for the second (1909) with slight changes. There are extra plans; however, John Bilson’s comments are longer in the first paper. The papers by Chadwick (1902, 1903) consist largely of documents with only a little reference to the buildings. Chadwick 1902 includes a ‘Prospect of Kirkleys Abby, where Robin Hood dyed from the Footway leading to Hartishead Church…’ by a Dr Johnston (2 pages between 336-337).

Brown 1886, footnote 42, notes that the tomb-slab of the first prioress had been found; Ryder 1991, 34, says the stone was found in 1706. Brown gives the inscription as: ‘Douce J.H.U de Nazaret Fitz Dieu Tez Mercy a Elizabeth Stainton Priores de cest maison’. However, Chadwick 1902, 320, thinks it is ‘very doubtful’ if Elizabeth Stainton, or Staynton, was the first prioress. Chadwick reprints the engraving of the slab by Hearne from the second volume of Leland’s Itinerary (Chadwick 1902, pl. opp. 322; Ryder 1991, 34).

For fold-out plan by John Bilson of the medieval buildings from excavation, see Armytage 1905-07 and 1909.