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Summary

The land belonged to St. John's Hospital, Bridgewater prior to the Dissolution but there is no evidence to suggest there was a priory here. It may simply have been the site of a farm or grange belonging to the hospital. The present house was built in 1850, replacing a house probably built by John Southcote in the 16th century.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX87NW/14/1
• Royal Albert Memorial Museum Accession Number: 56/2007

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• PRIORY (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

Weddell, P. J., Devon Religious Houses Survey 1986-7. Preliminary Assessment Form. Indio, Bovey Tracey (Un-published). SDV358386.

Indio, Bovey Tracey.
Site type: Monastic priory, order unknown.
Architectural remains: None. The present house was built in 1850. Some columns in the garden may come from a 16th century house on the site.
Buried deposits: None known. The priory is said to have been demolished in 1822 - its exact site is unknown. A pottery existed here between 1772 and 1841.

Ordnance Survey, 13/10/1953, SX87NW14 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV288958.

Site visit 13th October 1953. The site became the seat of the Southcotts after the suppression. They possessed it in the reign of Charles I.

Pole, W., 1791, Collections, 266 (Monograph). SDV288960.

Polwhele, R., 1793-1806, The History of Devonshire, 496 (Monograph). SDV21030.

Lysons, D. + Lysons, S., 1822, Magna Britannica, 57 (Monograph). SDV323771.

Dugdale, W., 1830, Monasticon Anglicanum, 1617 (Monograph). SDV288962.

Searley, A. W., 1918-1919, Granite Crosses at Kingskerswell, 209-211 (Article in Serial). SDV288964.

A stone cross now at Barton Hall, Kingskerswell, is said to have come from the ruins of Indio Priory.

Hole, M. A., 1930, Sketches of Bovey Tracey and District, 52-53 (Monograph). SDV288939.

Youings, J., 1955, Devon Monastic Lands (Monograph). SDV2117.

R. J. M., 1956-1958, Old Sword at Riverside Hotel, Bovey Tracey, 125 (Article in Serial). SDV288965.

The priory was demolished in 1822.

Hargreaves, A., 1968, Bovey Tracey History and Legend, 26 (Monograph). SDV299525.

Knowles, D. + Hadcock, R. N., 1971, Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales, 461 (Monograph). SDV323253.

A large house was built which was much altered in 1772. The present house was built in 1885. Once a priory according to Risdon but Lysons could find no record of it.

Griffith, F. M., 1986, DAP/GW, 2 (Aerial Photograph). SDV253850.

Weddell, P. J., 1986, Indio, Bovey Tracey (Report - Survey). SDV347711.

The first writer to suggest a priory at Indio is Risdon in the 1630s; Leland (1530-1545) makes no mention of it and Westcote in his 1630 View of Devonshire mentions only that the Southcott's had a seat at Indio. Lysons writing in 1822 stated that he could find no record to support the tradition and Oliver makes no mention of it in his Monasticon Dioceses Exoniensis (1845). However, White's Directory specifically states that it was supposed to have been a cell of Blackfriars or Dominicans, but this is the only reference to an order.
The earliest documentary reference to Indio is in 1544 at which time it was called Yondeyoe, the' place beyond the water'. The document relates to the purchase of land belonging to St. Johns Hospital Bridgewater and refers to the rent of a Messuage at Yondeyoe by John Southcote leased in 1531. The land was certainly, therefore, ecclesiastical property prior to the Dissolution. The term Messuage is rather vague but it is possible that there was a house or farm here at that time, although the will of Thomas Southcote, 1593, does not mention it.
There are no visible remains of any monastic buildings. The present house is a large mansion built in 1850. Six granite columns dating to the 16th or 17th century in the grounds may have come from an earlier house on the site. A sketch made in 1844 shows an earlier house on the site which may represent that built by John Southcote in the 16th century. A large group of buildings are shown on the 1839 Tithe Map around what may be the 16th century house. However, they may well be associated with the pottery which was established here in 1772 when the house was also enlarged. None of these buildings survive today.
There is no documentary, archaeological or architectural evidence for a monastic house here and it is likely that prior to the Dissolution the site was simply a farm or grange for St. John's Hospital.

Turton, S. D., 1993, Archaeological Assessment of Bovey Tracey Sewer Requisition: Phase 1, 2 (Report - Assessment). SDV287915.

Adams, B. + Thomas, A., 1996, A Potworks in Devonshire (Monograph). SDV299530.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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