Abbotskerswell Priory, on the outskirts of the village of

Abbotskerswell Abbotskerswell is a village and civil parish in the English county of Devon. The village is in the north part of the parish and is located two miles (3 km) south of the town of Newton Abbot, from the seaside resort of Torquay and from th ...

, near

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge, Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its population was 24,029 in 2011, and was estimated at 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England, was the home of a community of

Augustinian nuns Augustinian nuns are the most ancient and continuous segment of the Augustinian religious order. Named after Augustine of Hippo, there are several Catholic religious communities of women living according to a guide to religious life known as the ...

from 1861 until 1983. It has now been converted into apartments for retirees.

Abbotsleigh House

Abbotsleigh HouseWatts, Geoffrey E. St. Augustine’s Priory: a Short History of the Priory and Other Buildings on the Site, 1998 (Record No. 56412 - West Country Studies Library, Exeter) was built on high ground on the outskirts of

during 1847-48. The land had formerly belonged to the Abbot of

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo (South Somerset), River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish include ...

. The house, with about of land, was purchased by the Catholic Church in February 1860, and became the hub around which the new Priory of St. Augustine was built. During those early days it was sometimes known as Abbots Leigh Priory.

Joseph Hansom Joseph Aloysius Hansom (26 October 1803 – 29 June 1882) was a British architect working principally in the Gothic Revival style. He invented the Hansom cab and founded the eminent architectural journal ''Building (magazine), The Builder'' i ...

was appointed to prepare plans for buildings to accommodate 50 nuns. Hansom had recently completed work on

Plymouth Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Boniface in Plymouth, England, is the seat of the Bishop of Plymouth and mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Plymouth, which covers the counties of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset. The Diocese ...

, but is probably better known as the designer of

Hansom Cab The hansom cab is a kind of horse-drawn carriage designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York. The vehicle was developed and tested by Hansom in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England. Originally called the Hansom safet ...

s. His ground plan for the whole development is still available for inspection at the Priory and, although later details were completed by

Benjamin Bucknall Benjamin Bucknall (1833 – 16 November 1895) was an English architect of the Gothic Revival in South West England and South Wales, and then of neo- Moorish architecture in Algeria. His most noted works include the uncompleted Woodchester Man ...

, the general layout is as he originally planned it. The convent wing was completed by the autumn of 1861 and the new Church of the Holy Ghost was completed in autumn 1863. The east, or guest, wing and the north services wing were added during the next 20 years.

The nuns

In 1794 a group of English nuns living in St. Monica's convent in

Louvain Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the sub-municipalities of ...

, Belgium, was driven back to England by the French Revolution. They lived in Amesbury, Wiltshire, for five years but in 1800 they moved on to Spetisbury in Dorset. Here they created a boarding school for about 40 young ladies at what became known as St. Monica's Priory. In 1861 they found their final home in Abbotskerswell at the instigation of the Bishop of Plymouth, William Vaughan. Their experiences during the revolution may explain why Hansom was instructed to build two elaborate escape tunnels at the priory. At Abbotskerswell Priory the nuns lived as an

enclosed order Enclosed religious orders are religious orders whose members strictly separate themselves from the affairs of the external world. The term ''cloistered'' is synonymous with ''enclosed''. In the Catholic Church, enclosure is regulated by the cod ...

and had very little communication with the village until about 1952. As is traditional in monasteries of this kind, local people were admitted to worship in a small side chapel which was so arranged that they could follow services being conducted in the church, but could not see the nuns. Village residents recall that during the 1960s the nuns were given more freedom to associate and to sell produce such as honey and eggs from their small farm. The particular work of the community was reparation for the sins of mankind. They prayed for the

conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''The Convert'', a 2023 film produced by Jump Film & Television and Brouhaha Entertainment * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * ...

of sinners and the spread of the faith, especially in England. The

postulant A postulant (from , "to ask") was originally one who makes a request or demand; hence, a candidate. The use of the term is now generally restricted to those asking for admission into a Christian monastery or a religious order for the period precedi ...

s and

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession with no prior experience. Religion Buddhism ...

s were trained in singing and reciting the

Divine Office Divine Office may refer to: * Liturgy of the Hours, the recitation of certain Christian prayers at fixed hours according to the discipline of the Roman Catholic Church * Canonical hours, the recitation of such prayers in Christianity more generall ...

. Besides taking part in the domestic work of the community they were trained in various handicrafts according to their gifts and talents. Their time was largely devoted to religious exercises, daily Mass and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and the Divine Office in Choir, the sisters each taking their appointed watch, day and night.Rhodes, A.J., Newton Abbot – Its History and Development, 1905 (Newton Abbot Local History Library, Class 942.35) Among the relics which were preserved at the Priory was the

hair shirt A cilice , also known as a sackcloth, was originally a garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair (a hairshirt) worn close to the skin. It is used by members of various Christian traditions (including the Catholic, Lutheran, A ...

Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry V ...

, presented for safe keeping by Margaret Clements (1508–1570), his adopted daughter. It is now in the custody of

Buckfast Abbey Buckfast Abbey forms part of an active Benedictine monastery at Buckfast, near Buckfastleigh, Devon, England. Buckfast first became home to an abbey in 1018. The first Benedictine abbey was followed by a Congregation of Savigny, Savignac, later ...

, near Buckfastleigh in Devon.

Redevelopment

By the 1960s the buildings had started to fall into disrepair and the number of nuns slowly declined, the last three departing in March 1983. In 1985 a local company, Clennon Developments, purchased the property to develop as a retirement complex and the project was launched in April 1987. A second block, named Priory Court, was completed by the middle of 1991 and the small farmhouse and various outbuildings adjacent to Priory Road were converted into seven cottages by 1997, becoming known as Priory Yard. In 2011 the priory was purchased by Retirement Villages Ltd who continue to run it as a retirement complex.

References

{{Coord, 50.5104, -3.6037, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Monasteries in Devon 1861 establishments in England 1983 disestablishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 19th century Augustinian nunneries in England 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom