Ilchester Nunnery

Ilchester NunneryMonastery information

Order| Augustinian
Established| 1217–1220
Disestablished| 1463
Site
Location| Ilchester, Somerset, England
Grid reference| ST520228

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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; three Danish battle axes) seated at Orleigh in the 16th century.[1][2] By 1281, it had been converted into an Augustinian nunnery.[1][3]

In the early 14th century concerns were raised about the management of the nunnery and the poverty of the nuns.[4] The building was expanded in 1370. By 1463 the nunnery had been dissolved and its chapel become a free chapel,[5] which itself was dissolved in 1548.[6]

A ruined building still existed in 1791 but the stone was then used to build the nearby Castle Farm.[6]

## Prioresses[edit]

* Alice Atteyerde, 1315[1][7]
* Alice de Chilthorne, 1316[1][8]
* Cecilia de Draycote, 1325[1][9]
* Mary, 1370[1][10]
* Matilda, occurs 1377[1][11]
* Margaret, otherwise Marjory, 1377[1][12]
* Christina, 1423[1][13]

## Further reading[edit]

* Thomas Hugo, Whitehall Hospital, Nunnery, Free Chapel, 12th-18th Century (1867) (Ilchester and District Occasional Papers (Guernsey) 52, 45-84)
* James Stevens Cox, Whitehall hospital, nunnery, free chapel, Ilchester (J. S. Cox, Ilchester Historical Monographs no. 6, 1950)

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Page, William (1911). "Hospitals: Ilchester and Langport'". A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 2. British History Online. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
2. ^ The Battle Abbey Roll by The Duchess of Cleveland, Vol.1, "Denise"
3. ^ James Stevens-Cox, A History of Ilchester, the ancient county town of Somerset nos. 1-6, 8 & 9 (1958), p. 129
4. ^ Power, Eileen (1988). Medieval English Nunneries, c. 1275 to 1535. Biblo & Tannen Booksellers & Publishers Incorporat. p. 233\. ISBN 978-0-8196-0140-7.
5. ^ "Chapel, Whitehall hospital and nunnery, High Street, Ilchester". Somerset Historic Environment Record. Somerset County Council. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
6. ^ a b "Augustinian nunnery, High Street, Ilchester". Somerset Historic Environment Record. Somerset County Council. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
7. ^ Edmund Hobhouse, Calendar of the Register of John de Drokensford, 1309–1329 (Somerset Record Society, 1887), p. 93
8. ^ Hobhouse, op. cit., p. 115
9. ^ Hobhouse, op. cit., p. 245
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Cler. Subs. bundle 4, no. 1, m. 6
12. ^ Cal. Pat. 1405–08, p. 306
13. ^ Buckler, op. cit., D. no. 11-98, App. xii

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