Holywell (or Halliwell) Priory - formally ’The Priory of St John the Baptist’ stood on Holywell Lane between 1152 and 1539.
Its precinct lay within the area now bounded by Batemans Row, Shoreditch High Street, Holywell Lane and Curtain Road.
It was certainly a house of Augustinian women, established in the twelfth century by Robert FitzGeneran. The founder made an endowment gift of three acres across the moor on which the Holywell spring - the source of the Walbrook - had its source.
In 1244, King Henry III was recorded as giving ’twelve marks’ for the rebuilding of mills that had been burnt down ’through the carelessness of the King’s bakers’. In 1379 there were eleven professed nuns in the priory. The final benefactor, Sir Thomas Lovell - Chancellor of the Exchequer - virtually refounded the Priory, including the construction of a chapel in which he was buried in 1524.
At the election in 1534 of the last prioress, Sybil Newdigate, there were 13 professed nuns and 4 novices present.
Holywell Priory was formally dissolved on 10 October 1539 with the convent comprising 14 nuns, including the prioress and subprioress. Prioress Sybil Newdigate received a pension of £50.
