| Summary: | One of only three houses founded in Devon for nuns. The identity of the founder has not been established with any certainty. The earliest reference to the site is in 1238. It is the most westerly and poorest of the three houses. It is said to have been founded for 13 nuns; eight nuns and a prioress are named in 1377. The priory was dissolved in 1536 and the property remained with the crown until 1558 when it was granted to Edward Harris and John Williams. There is little of the priory visible today, apart from the gatehouse and the lack of information given by post medieval writers and topographers of the 18th and 19th century suggests that most of the priory buildings were demolished soon after the dissolution. The remains of the gatehouse suggest it was a fine 15th century structure with two entrances; one for pedestrians and one for carriages. It survives in faily complete form although most of the upper storey has gone. The church and other claustral buildings were suggested by Watkin and Windeatt to have been about 38 metres to the south-east of the gatehouse. Their evidence appears to have been based on the walls of some farm buildings that lay in this area close to the road. Dean Milles c1770 mentions a barn which 'bears some marks of antiquity' and was supposed to be a chapel. The 1844 Tithe Map shows a barn and yard in this location. The arrangement of the buildings may have encourged Watking an Windeatt to think that they were looking at buildings around a cloister. Today some masonry is visible on the west side adjacent to the road. The yard is now the site of a well-established pond. Weddell finds the interpretation of this site as the claustral buildings difficult to fully accept; little is known of their antiquity of the buildings, they are not on an east-west alignment and furthermore they are alongside the road which would have been an unusual location. Nevertheless, there may well have been priory buildings in this location which were modified or rebuilt. The association of the barn with a chapel suggest that there was some reasons for thinking that it was old or ecclesiastical in origin. It is possible that they were part of an outer court. Another possible site for buildings is immediately north-east of the courtyard buildings where there is a slight terrace. Court Prior Farm does not appear to be earlier than the 17th century but it could have been the site of the priory home farm and could contain re-used stone from the priory buildings. The plan of the priory remains enigmatic, likely only to be revealed now by excavation. |
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