Prittlewell is a suburb of Southend-on-Sea, on its northern outskirts. The Priory was a Cluniac foundation, founded c.1110 and dissolved in 1536, after which it was converted to domestic use. The priory and grounds were presented to the town in 1917, and opened as a museum in 1922. The only standing remains of the monastic buildings are the S and W ranges of the cloister, which stood to the S of the piriory church. These formed the basis of the domestic building to which it was converted after the Dissolution. The W range dates from the 15thc and include the priors' lodging; which the late-12thc refectory occupied the S range. It was restored and partly rebuilt in the early 20thc, but the N wall is largely original and includes a doorway and a rebuilt window, described below.

Prittlewell was held in 1086 by Swein of Essex in demesne as a manor of 7½ hides. The record also notes pasture for 12 pigs, pasture for 200 sheep, and a church. The priory is first noted in a confirmation of the possessions of Lewes Priory (Sussex) by Ralph, Archbishop of Canterbury dated 1121, in which it is said to have been granted to Lewes by Robert, son of Swein. This suggests a foundation date between 1086 and 1121. Robert granted to the priory the church of Prittlewell with the chapels of Sutton and Eastwood, and the tithes of the hamlet of Milton. Archbishop Becket,confirmed these gifts, and also the churches of Rayleigh, Thundersley, the two Shoeburys, Canewdon, Wickford, Stoke, Clavering and Langley: a generous endowment for a house of this size.

At the Dissolution it passed to Thomas Audley, and at his death ten years later it was bought by Sir Richard Rich, owner of large estates in Essex, including his residence of Lees Priory. Prittlewell was apparently rented out to tenants during Rich's ownership.

The doorway must date from c.1200 at the earliest - a date offered by Pevsner (1954) but not repeated by Bettley. There would be no hesitation in dating it to the 13thc were it not for the chevron ornament; extraordinarily old fashioned in a doorway with dogtooth, crocket capitals and keeled mouldings. The window belongs to the same campaign.