The Priory at Ronton had been built on assarted land, that is, land reclaimed and cleared from the surrounding forests. Its full name was _S. Maria de Exsartis_ or _Ste Marie des Essarz_, and in its precincts had formerly stood almshouses in connection with which we read of a gift of _unam assartam in campis de Flotesbroc_ (Flashbrook). No trace of them appears in _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ or in any of the records of the Dissolution. The Priory was dependent on Haughmond Abbey in Shropshire, to which it made an annual payment. So long ago as 1246 this had been fixed by the Bishop at £5, and this amount was paid down to the time of the suppression. The Prior of Haughmond was supposed to visit Ronton every year, but no effective control was exercised. In the fourteenth century Bishop Norbury found much to censure at Ronton, and Bishop Blythe had recently (1530) refused to institute one of its canons who had been nominated to a vicarage, as he found him _indoctus et indignus_. In 1535 the Prior was Thomas Alton. _Valor Ecclesiasticus_[102] records that the temporal income came from Ronton and Heathhouse Grange (£13 11s. 8d.), the town of Ronton (£3 18s. 8d.), Clanford, Knighton, Ellerton, Bachaker, Hevedale, Hevehall, Watteley More, Seighford, Brucheford, Ellenhall, Billington, Orslow, Apeton, Launde Stockton, Aston and Cokysland, Walford, Gnosall, Halghton, Offley, Eccleshall, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Milwich, Whitgreve, Wodeyton, and Cowley in Staffordshire, besides 7s. 4d. from Stafford. The amounts are all small. From Shepey in Leicestershire came £4 8s. 8d.; from St. Mary’s Gild in Newport (Salop), 1s.; and from Grenburgh (Warw.), £4. The demesne at Ronton produced £4 6s. 8d. arable, £6 5s. pasture, and £3 came from “_xxviii dey mathys prati ibidem_.” The total amount is £13 11s. 8d., and from the Paper Survey we know the acreage was as follows: arable, 79 acres; pasture, 121½ acres; meadow, 39 acres. At the town of Ronton 18s. 4d. came from two parcels of land and a water-mill. Temporal outgoings consisted of payments to the Bishop for houses in Eccleshall and Knighton; Henry, Lord Stafford (Billington), John Gifford (Dulverne), and Thomas Gifford, Kt., “Lord” of Cariswall (Hevehall), Thomas Astley, Kt. (Shepey), the canons of Penkridge (Billington), John Harcourt, Kt. (Ronton), the Prebendary of Chyltrenhall in Gnosal (pastures in Gnosal), William Essex, Kt. (Walford). The chief steward was John Harcourt (£2). Bailiffs are Reginald Carte (Grenburgh), Robert Vincent (Shepey), and John Hoggson (Ronton, etc.). The spiritual income consisted of tithes only: £13 8s. 6d. from Seighford and £32 17s. from Grenburgh (Warw.). Spiritual payments were as follows: Bishop £3 6s. 8d. triennially as visitation fees, 6s. 8d. annually from Grenburgh, and 4s. from Seighford; £5 to Haughmond Abbey.