At first only the eastern part of the church was built in stone, with five apses (curving walls) at its east end. It consisted of the crossing, north and south transepts, chancel, and north and south chapels. Timber buildings to the north of the church were indicated by holes where posts once stood, and even actual posts surviving in waterlogged ground under later walls.

Dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) of one of the posts showed that it was made from a tree cut down in 1159 or 1160. There were also timber buildings to the west, and a grave under the wall of the later south aisle may have been in a cemetery here.

Sandwell Priory was a Benedictine monastery which was first built in the 12th century and was closed down by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525. It was a small Priory which only ever housed a few monks, but it owned land and property in the surrounding area. Documents tell us something about its history but hardly anything about its buildings; most information about these comes from archaeological excavation.

Sandwell Priory is first mentioned in a charter from Gervase Pagnel of Dudley Castle confirming a donation of land and property by his tenant William, son of Guy de Offini, to the monks living in the hermitage near the spring called the Sand Well. The charter probably dates to between 1160 and 1170 (the archaeological excavations showed that the earliest buildings were constructed between 1150 and 1160). The monks at Sandwell Priory lived under the Rule of St Benedict and the Priory was dedicated to St Mary Magdalene.

Sandwell Priory was closed down (“dissolved”) by Cardinal Wolsey on 4 February 1525, as part of the “little dissolution” which included 28 other small monasteries and took place before the Dissolution of large monasteries by King Henry the Eighth between 1536 and 1540. The “little dissolution” was intended to raise money for Cardinal College (now Christ Church) at Oxford University and a school in Ipswich. A detailed survey was made of the Priory buildings in 1525, to assess what could be sold off. We can relate the description to some of the buildings found in the excavation. They include the church (chancel, nave, south aisle, bell frame and chapels) and the buildings around the cloister (the house, hall, and kitchen) and a gatehouse, barn, hay house, stable. There was also a water mill, which would have been near Swan Pool.

After Sandwell Priory was closed down and the monks moved out, part of the Priory buildings were converted into a house which was used for nearly 170 years. In 1705 Lord Dartmouth built Sandwell Hall on the site, and a park was created around it. The Dartmouth family lived here until 1853. Sandwell Hall then had various uses before its demolition in 1928.

After the Priory: 16th to 20th centuries After the Priory was closed down in 1525 and the monks moved out, the church was demolished and became a garden, and the east range of the buildings was converted into a house. When Sandwell Hall was constructed in the 18th century, some of the Priory walls in the east range were demolished and others were incorporated into the Hall, but the remains of the church were preserved by soil dumped over it. Demolition of Sandwell Hall in 1928 exposed some of the Priory walls.

Archaeological excavations which took place from 1982 to 1988 revealed the layout and history of the Priory buildings. The remains included walls, floors, fragments of roofs and several graves. Pottery, metal and even wood and leather items were found.

Demolition of Sandwell Hall in 1928 exposed a wall of the Priory which stood to first floor level, but only a few low walls were visible above ground when the excavation started in 1982. Part of the site was covered by trees and the Priory church was buried over a metre deep under a track. The excavation began with a detailed survey of everything visible on the surface, then trenches were excavated which were expanded into larger excavation areas. The track was diverted so that the church under it could be excavated.

Archaeology is the study of people in the past from the things they’ve left behind them- objects, and features such as walls, floors, pits, and ditches. Archaeologists excavate by carefully removing the soil layer by layer, going back in time. We can date each layer by its relationship with other layers and from the objects found it. The layers, features and objects together tell us about people in the past.