ALIEN, were cells of the religious houses in England which belonged to foreign monasteries. When manors or tithes were given to foreign convents, the monks, either to increase their own rule, or rather to have faithful stewards of their revenues, built a small convent here for the reception of such a number as they thought proper, and constituted priors over them. Within these cells there was the same distinction as in those priories which were cells subordinate to some great abbey. These alien priories were most of them founded by such as had foreign abbeys founded by themselves or by some of their family. The whole number is not exactly ascertained. Dugdale has given a list of a hundred, Weever of a hundred and ten.