Otterton Priory

{{Short description|Former priory in Devon, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Church, Otterton (geograph 2270239).jpg|thumb|St Michael's church, Otterton. The late 11th tower was part of the priory]] '''Otterton Priory''' was a priory in [[Otterton]], [[Devon]] founded before 1087 and suppressed in 1414. The tower of the parish church is the major remaining structure of the monastery. The manor house probably reuses parts of the monastery's fabric.

== History ==

It was founded some time before 1087 as an [[alien priory]] of [[Benedictine]] monks. It was a cell of the monastery of [[Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey|Mont St. Michael]] in [[Normandy]] and in 1332 [[John, King of England|King John]] is recorded as creating establishing the priory for four monks. However, it is possible that he simply increased the revenues and improved the buildings of an existing monastery.<ref name=historic>{{cite web| url = https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=046de24e-035b-46e4-a276-c1e036a83218&resourceID=19191| title = Monument Number 448538| last = Historic England research records| website = Heritage Gateway| access-date = 30 January 2021}}</ref>

In 1332 it was briefly sold off for £120 but later a monk from the parent house probably re-established it. It was finally suppressed in 1414 and the lands associated with it were given to [[Syon Abbey]] in [[Middlesex]].<ref name=historic />

== Buildings == The priory probably stood to the east of the present church on the site, St Michael<ref name=historic /> and the tower would have been between the parochial [[nave]] and the east end used by the priory.<ref>*{{cite book |last1=Cherry|first1=Bridget|last2=Pevsner|first2=Nikolaus |title=The Buildings of England:Devon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5wd_Pw4L3zcC&q=Devon+Pevsner |year=2004 |publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven, CT; London |isbn=0-300-09596-1|pages=614–615}}</ref> Other than the tower, no remains of any monastic building are visible.<ref name=historic /> Richard Duke obtained the priory lands at the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] and some time after 1539 constructed the manor house from part of the monastic buildings by. The manor house is now converted into a number of almshouses.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=3b9d831d-1919-401c-bdb1-b908679167a6&resourceID=19191|title =Monument Number 448520 | last = Historic England research records| website=Heritage Gateway|access-date = 31 January 2021}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

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[[Category:Monasteries in Devon]]