The priory was built in the twelfth century when Simon Warde granted the estate to the nuns of Syningthwaite Priory, an act that was confirmed by his son in 1172 and also in 1185. The nunnery was dedicated to St Mary and St Leonard and was suppressed in 1540 under the dissolution of the monasteries.[2]
In 1303, the Prioress, Juliana De La Wodehall, tendered her resignation to the bishop over a scandal in which one of the nuns got pregnant. Despite this, the bishop refused to accept her resignation.[3]
His son, Sir Walter Calverley-Blackett, 2nd Bt, sold it to Robert Stansfield (1727–72) of Bradford, Yorkshire, in 1755. It passed to his niece, Anna Maria Rookes (1762–1819) and her husband Joshua Crompton (1754–1832) whose son was the MP William Crompton-Stansfield (1790–1871). After his death in 1871, the estate was inherited by his nephew General William Henry Crompton-Stansfield (1835–88).[6]