{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox monastery |name = Buckland Priory |image = |order = Augustinian |mother = |established = c. 1167 |disestablished = 1539 |diocese = |churches = |founder = William de Erleigh |dedication = |people = |location = Durston, Somerset, England |oscoor = {{gbmappingsmall|ST294286}} |remains = |public_access = }} {{Location map |Somerset |lat= 51.0524 |long= -3.0077 |width=180 |float=right |caption=''Buckland Priory shown within Somerset''<br />({{gbmapping|ST294286}}) }} '''Buckland Priory''', also known as '''Minchin Buckland Preceptory''' or '''Buckland Sororum''' (Latin: "Buckland of the Sisters"), was established around 1167 in Lower Durston, Somerset, England.<ref name="bush">{{cite book|last=Bush|first=Robin|authorlink=Robin Bush (historian)|title=Somerset: The Complete Guide|publisher=Dovecote Press|year=1994|pages=[https://archive.org/details/somersetcomplete0000bush/page/90 90–91]|isbn=1-874336-26-1|url=https://archive.org/details/somersetcomplete0000bush/page/90}}</ref>

==Priory== It was founded by William de Erleigh (or Erlegh) for Augustinian Canons. A local spring fed fishponds (or vivarium) and supplied the priory with water and drainage. The ponds were filled in by 1725.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=18668|title=Durston|last=Dunning|first=Robert|author2=C R Elrington|author3=A P Baggs|author4=M C Siraut|work=Victoria County History|publisher=British History Online|accessdate=2009-01-08}}</ref>

The buildings burned down in 1234.<ref name="pastscape"/> The priory was later suppressed, and the estates given to the Knights Hospitaller. Subsequently, there was a priory of Canonesses of St. Augustine, and, in 1199 a preceptory of Knights Hospitaller,<ref name="bush"/> the Hospitallers' only house for women in England,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vagg.org.uk/cvstudy/buckland.php |title=Notes on Buckland Priory |publisher=Vagg.org |accessdate=6 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114082134/http://www.vagg.org.uk/cvstudy/buckland.php |archivedate=14 January 2012 }}</ref> who ceased to appoint preceptors after 1433.<ref name="pastscape">{{cite web|url=http://pastscape.english-heritage.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=191893&sort=1&type=priory&class1=Religion&period=None&county=Somerset&place=&yearfrom=ALL&yearto=ALL&recordsperpage=30&source=text&nmr=&defra=|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120712081009/http://pastscape.english-heritage.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=191893&sort=1&type=priory&class1=Religion&period=None&county=Somerset&place=&yearfrom=ALL&yearto=ALL&recordsperpage=30&source=text&nmr=&defra=|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-12|title=Buckland Priory|work=Pastscape|publisher=English Heritage|accessdate=2008-10-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/43225|title=Mynchin Buckland Priory, Durston|work=Somerset Historic Environment Record|publisher=Somerset County Council|accessdate=6 January 2010}}</ref>

Various endowments were made and by 1358 the estate consisted of {{convert|268|acre|km2}} of arable land, and {{convert|42|acre|m2}} of meadow.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40938|title=The Preceptory of Minchin Buckland|last=Page|first=William|year=1911|work=Victoria County History of Somerset|publisher=British History Online|accessdate=6 January 2010}}</ref>

==Burials== *Robert Hill (died 1423) and wife Isabel Fitchet

==Dissolution== At the Dissolution of the Monasteries Buckland was dissolved in 1540. The Hospitallers had granted a 50-year lease of their lands in 1539 to William Hawley or Halley. Following Dissolution Hawley received a lease of the property from the crown, and in 1545 together with Alexander Popham he purchased the freehold, then called "the manor and late preceptory of Buckland Priors". Hawley bought out his partner Popham later in 1545. In 1548 he held 300 acres of former Buckland Priory land.<ref> 'Durston: Manors', A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 6: Andersfield, Cannington, and North Petherton Hundreds (Bridgwater and neighbouring parishes) (1992), pp. 259-262. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=18669&amp;strquery=hawley</ref> The property was later the seat of Sir Gabriel Hawley (d.1604), Sheriff of Somerset in 1584.

==Present day== The site of one of the buildings is now occupied by Buckland Farm a Grade II* listed building.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1060491|title=Lodge Farmhouse|work=historicengland.org.uk|publisher=English Heritage|accessdate=2009-01-08}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Hugo|title=The history of Mynchin Buckland, priory and preceptory : in the county of Somerset |publisher=J.R. Smith|location=London|year=1861|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mu4VAAAAYAAJ&q=Buckland+Priory}}

{{coord|51.0533|-3.0092|type:landmark_region:GB|display=title}}

Category:Monasteries in Somerset Category:1167 establishments in England Category:1539 disestablishments in England Category:Augustinian monasteries in England Category:Preceptories of the Knights Hospitaller in England Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1160s