Davington Priory was a

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

on the north

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

coast of England. It sits on Davington Hill, now a northern suburb of

Faversham Faversham () is a market town in Kent, England, from Sittingbourne, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2 road (Great ...

but then an isolated rural location.

History

A Benedictine nunnery was built at Davington in 1153. It managed to avoid the violence of the dissolution of the monasteries by a natural decline in the early 16th century – the last nun died in 1535. The priory passed to the Crown, who sold it to Sir Thomas Cheney (Cheyney). Cheney was a favourite of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

's second wife,

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the Wives of Henry VIII, second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading ...

, and was appointed Lord Warden of the

Cinque Ports The confederation of Cinque Ports ( ) is a historic group of coastal towns in south-east England – predominantly in Kent and Sussex, with one outlier (Brightlingsea) in Essex. The name is Old French, meaning "five harbours", and alludes to ...

in 1536. The nave of the Norman church continues to this day as the parish church, which is dedicated to

St Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurre ...

and

St Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence (; 31 December 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman emperor Valerian ordered in 258. ...

– unusually it was privately owned until the Church of England bought it in 1931. The choir of the church was demolished by 1580 to provide building stone, and one of the twin towers had gone by 1692.

Modern history

Part of the cloister and nuns' domestic quarters were converted into a house, which was bought by the Church of England in 1931 and sold as a private residence to the antiques dealer and collector Christopher Gibbs in 1972, and he in turn sold it in 1982. It was at Davington Priory that David Litvinoff lived from 1972 until 1975, when he ended his life through an overdose of pills.David Litvinoff and the Teifiside blues.
Geoff Ballinger, BBC Wales, 19 April 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2014. The Priory is now owned by

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part ...

, who bought it from his friend Gibbs.New York Times
At Home With: Christopher Gibbs; A Parting Embrace For a Lifetime's Quirks - New York Times
accessdate: 08/09/2014Sinclair, Iain. (2000) "Who cares for the caretaker?" in By 2023, Geldof had lived there for 40 years.kentonline.co.uk
Boomtown Spat: Superstar Bob Geldof in bitter row with neighbour over new gate near Davington home
accessdate: 08/09/2014 According to one local, retired publican Terence Boulton, "He's eldofvery approachable and doesn't act like a superstar. He talks to people and is often seen walking around the town".

References

{{coord , 51, 19, 10, N, 0, 53, 4, E, type:landmark_region:GB-KEN, display=title Monasteries in Kent Grade II* listed buildings in Kent Buildings and structures in Faversham Churches in Faversham