Forebridge nr. Stafford

INFORMATION

FontID: 22248FOR
Church/Chapel: Austin Friary Church [disappeared]
Church Location: address for the village: Forebridge, Stafford ST17 4ER, UK
Country Name: England
Location: Staffordshire, West Midlands
Directions to Site: Forebridge is located off (S) the A34 [aka Lichfield Rd], in the SE suburbs of Stafford. The site of the disappeared friary was approximately SW of The Green
Ecclesiastic Region: [Diocese of Lichfield]
Century and Period: 14th century (mid?), Decorated
Church Notes: the present church of Forebridge St Paul was built in the 19thC as a chapel of ease to Castle Church, and did not replace an earlier church there
No individual entry found for Forebridge in the Domesday survey. The entry for this friary in the Victoria County History (Stafford, vol. 3, 1970) notes: "The only house of Austin friars in the county was that in Forebridge, a suburb to the south of Stafford borough in the parish of Castle Church. It was founded in 1344 by Ralph, Lord Stafford [...] The house survived until the Dissolution [...] In 1542 20 loads of stone from the demolished church were sold to the church of Bradley to the west of Stafford where the fine 14th-century nave arcade may well have been erected as part of a 16th-century reconstruction using this stone from Stafford."