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 Alien-Houses

 ALIEN-HOUSES, religious houses in England belonging to foreign ecclesiastics, or under their control.  They generally were built where property had been left by the donors to foreign orders to pray for their souls.  They were frequently regular “priories,” but sometimes only “cells,” and even “granges,’, with small chapels attached.  Some, particularly in cities, seem to have been a sort of mission-houses.  There were more than 100 in England.  Many alien-houses were suppressed by Henry V. and the rest by Henry VIII.