2-323-980 - www.picturethepast.org.uk/Nottinghamshire County Council /Heritage Images

Hodsock Priory, Nottinghamshire, c1900s. Front view of the Priory viewed from the north-west. There is actually no record of any Priory here, and the reason for naming this house Hodsock Priory is unknown. According to the Domesday Book, Ulsi was the pre-Conquest owner of Hodsock. Next came Torald de Lisoriis, who held his land from de Bush, and had two ploughs and three sokemen here. Then followed the Cressys, Cliftons, and Mellishs. Hodsock has, therefore, only had four families as owners since 1066. The Cressys must have had a mansion at Hodsock, for we know that two kings stayed there. The moat belongs to their time. The present gateway is said to date from the times of the Cliftons, and was probably part of a mansion built very early in the 16th century. When Dugdale recorded his visitation in 1662, he mentioned the name of Robert Clifton as appearing on a scroll, along with some shields, over a bay window of the hall. This would seem to suggest that the hall, if not the gateway, was built very early in the 16th century. The Cliftons left about 1653. The hall gradually fell into ruins and was later used as a farmhouse. In the year 1765, Sir Gervase Clifton sold this estate to the Mellish family, then seated at Blyth. They moved to Hodsock in 1806. By 1829 the Mellish family had built the present mansion. The gardens of Hodsock Priory are open to the public in spring and are now famous for displays of snowdrops in the gardens.