Ilchester Nunnery

Ilchester Nunnery
Monastery information
Order Augustinian
Established 1217-1220
Disestablished 1463
Site
Location Ilchester, Somerset, England
Grid Reference ST520228
Ilchester Nunnery shown within Somerset
(grid reference ST520228)

Ilchester Nunnery, in Ilchester, Somerset, England, was founded around 1217-1220 as the "White Hall Hospital of the Holy Trinity", (Latin: Alba Aula, French: Blanche Halle/Blanchesale) after the gift of a house and other property by William "The Dane" of Sock Dennis manor, Ilchester (Norman-French: Le Deneis etc., Latinised to Dacus (the adjectival form of Dacia being mediaeval Latin for Denmark) modernised to "Dennis").[1] From this family was probably descended the influential Denys family of Devon, (arms; 3 Danish battle axes) seated at Orleigh in the 16th c.[2][3] By 1281, it had been converted into an Augustinian nunnery.[3][4]

In the early 14th century concerns were raised about the management of the nunnery and the poverty of the nuns.[5] The building was expanded in 1370. By 1463 the nunnery had been dissolved and its chapel become a free chapel,[6] which itself was dissolved in 1548.[7]

A ruined building still existed in 1791 but the stone was then used to build the nearby Castle Farm.[7]

Prioresses

Further reading

References

  1. ^ Page, William (1911). "Hospitals: Ilchester and Langport',". A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 2. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40946#s2. Retrieved 9 January 2010. 
  2. ^ [http://www.1066.co.nz/library/battle_abbey_roll1/subchap178.htm The Battle Abbey Roll by The Duchess of Cleveland, Vol.1, "Denise"
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Page, William (1911). "Hospitals: Ilchester and Langport',". A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 2. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40946#s2. Retrieved 9 January 2010. 
  4. ^ James Stevens-Cox, A History of Ilchester, the ancient county town of Somerset nos. 1-6, 8 & 9 (1958), p. 129
  5. ^ Power, Eileen (1988). Medieval English Nunneries, c. 1275 to 1535. Biblo & Tannen Booksellers & Publishers Incorporat. pp. 233. ISBN 978-0819601407. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1ll6BuF4-kgC&pg=PA233&lpg=PA233&dq=Ilchester+Nunnery&source=bl&ots=5CYCcRqj5W&sig=G4JpSdaB_Xke6wFjXNBlj2f0FRE&hl=en&ei=h29IS_LnE4Hw0gTJ38HvAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBEQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Ilchester%20Nunnery&f=false. 
  6. ^ "Chapel, Whitehall hospital and nunnery, High Street, Ilchester". Somerset Historic Environment Record. Somerset County Council. http://webapp1.somerset.gov.uk/her/details.asp?prn=53010. Retrieved 9 January 2010. 
  7. ^ a b "Augustinian nunnery, High Street, Ilchester". Somerset Historic Environment Record. Somerset County Council. http://webapp1.somerset.gov.uk/her/details.asp?prn=53046. Retrieved 9 January 2010. 
  8. ^ Edmund Hobhouse, Calendar of the Register of John de Drokensford, 1309–1329 (Somerset Record Society, 1887), p. 93
  9. ^ Hobhouse, op. cit., p. 115
  10. ^ Hobhouse, op. cit., p. 245
  11. ^ William Buckler, Ilchester Almshouse Deeds: From the Time of King John to the Reign of James the First, 1200-1625 (1866), D. no. 26, App. no. 9
  12. ^ Cler. Subs. bundle 4, no. 1, m. 6
  13. ^ Cal. Pat. 1405–08, p. 306
  14. ^ Buckler, op. cit., D. no. 11-98, App. xii