Avebury Priory

{{Short description|Alien house of Benedictine monks in Wiltshire, England}}{{Use British English|date=August 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{coord|51|25|43|N|01|51|33|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=title}} '''Avebury Priory''' was an [[alien house]] of [[Benedictine]] monks in Wiltshire, England, between the early 12th century and the Dissolution.

William de Tancarville, chamberlain to [[Henry I of England|Henry I]], granted an [[Avebury (village)|Avebury]] estate (which he had recently received from the King) to the [[Abbey of Saint-Georges, Boscherville]], Normandy in 1114,<ref name="vch">{{Cite book|author-last1=Baggs|author-first1=A. P.|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol12/pp86-105|title=A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 12|author-last2=Freeman|author-first2=Jane|author-last3=Stevenson|author-first3=Janet H.|date=1983|publisher=University of London|editor-last=Crowley|editor-first=D. A.|series=[[Victoria County History]]|pages=86-105|chapter=Parishes: Avebury|access-date=6 August 2021|via=British History Online}}</ref> and a priory was established at Avebury soon afterwards.<ref name="vch-alien">{{Cite book|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol3/pp392-393|title=A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 3|date=1956|publisher=University of London|editor1-last=Pugh|editor1-first=R.B.|editor1-link=Ralph Pugh|series=[[Victoria County History]]|pages=392-393|chapter=Alien Houses: The Priory of Avebury|access-date=6 August 2021|editor2-last=Crittall|editor2-first=Elizabeth|via=British History Online}}</ref> It was one of two such cells in England: William had also donated the church and manor at [[Edith Weston]], Rutland, in or before the same year, leading to the establishment of [[Edith Weston Priory]].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=39914|title=A History of the County of Rutland: Volume 1|year=1908|editor1-last=Page|editor1-first=William|series=Victoria County History|pages=163–164|chapter=Alien Cell: Priory of Edith Weston|access-date=6 August 2021}}</ref> At Avebury the monks did not have control of the parish church which was held by [[Cirencester Abbey]], causing disputes over [[tithes]] in the next century.<ref name="vch-alien" />

An inventory made in 1324 found around 600 sheep, two horses and two beds; the abbey typically had three or four monks in England, divided between Avebury and Edith Weston. Most foreign monks were expelled in 1378, and thereafter the land was tenanted by a succession of royal servants who undertook to provide a chaplain to conduct services. In 1411 the lands were granted to the [[collegiate church]] at [[Church of St Mary and All Saints, Fotheringhay|Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire]], which held them until the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|Dissolution]] in the 1530s.<ref name="vch-alien" />

The names of priors are recorded sporadically between 1336 and 1377, and are listed in the Victoria County History.<ref name="vch-alien" />

The house on the site of the monks' [[manor house]] is known as [[Avebury Manor]] and since 1991 has been owned by the [[National Trust]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Avebury Manor Guidebook|url=https://shop.nationaltrust.org.uk/national-trust-avebury-manor-guidebook.html|access-date=6 August 2021|website=National Trust}}</ref> Parts of the [[Grade I listed]] house date from c.1557.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1033785|desc=Avebury Manor|access-date=6 August 2021}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{Benedictine houses of England and Wales}} [[Category:Monasteries in Wiltshire]] [[Category:Grade II listed buildings in Wiltshire]] [[Category:Benedictine monasteries in England]] [[Category:12th-century establishments in England]] [[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1110s]]