![Burford Priory001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Burford_Priory001.jpg)
Burford Priory is a
Grade I listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
and former
priory
A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...
at
Burford
Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeast of Che ...
in
West Oxfordshire
West Oxfordshire is a local government district in northwest Oxfordshire, England, including towns such as Woodstock, Burford, Chipping Norton, Charlbury, Carterton and Witney, where the council is based.
Area
The area is mainly rural downland ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
owned by
Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
, together with
Matthew Freud
Matthew Freud (born 2 November 1963) is head of Freud Communications, an international public relations firm in the United Kingdom.
Early life
Freud is the son of the actress June Flewett and the writer and German-born British politician Sir Cl ...
.
History
Origin
The house is on the site of a 13th-century
Augustinian Augustinian may refer to:
*Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine
*Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs
*Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo
* Canons Regular of Sain ...
hospital. In the 1580s an
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
house was built by
Sir Lawrence Tanfield, incorporating remnants of the
Priory Hospital. James I stayed at the priory for three nights in 1603.
[VCH Explore](_blank)
/ref> In the 17th century it was remodelled in Jacobean style
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James VI and I, with whose reign (1603–1625 in England) it is associated. At the start of James' reign ther ...
, probably after 1634 when William Lenthall
William Lenthall (1591–1662) was an English politician of the English Civil War, Civil War period. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons for a period of almost twenty years, both before ...
bought the estate from Tanfield's grandson, the 2nd Viscount Falkland, who had inherited it from his grandfather. Lenthall was one of the overseers of Tanfield's will and had married into his second wife's family. It remained in the Lenthall family until 1828. The Lenthall pictures
The Lenthall pictures were a number of paintings owned by the Lenthall family and housed at Burford Priory. The collection was publicly commented on by art historians and tourists. It was largely dispersed in two sales in 1808 and 1833, although s ...
were housed here until the collection was largely sold in the nineteenth century.
In 1912, the philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
Emslie John Horniman MP purchased Burford Priory from Colonel Frank de Sales la Terrière. He restored the house and later the chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
under the supervision of the architect Walter Godfrey
Walter Hindes Godfrey, CBE, FSA, FRIBA (1881–1961), was an English architect, antiquary, and architectural and topographical historian. He was also a landscape architect and designer, and an accomplished draftsman and illustrator. He was ...
.
Use by Church of England nuns & monks
From 1949 Burford Priory housed The Society of the Salutation of Our Lady, a community of Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
s. In the 1980s the community's numbers dwindled so in 1987 it became a mixed community including Church of England Benedictine monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
s. In 2008 the community sold the property and it has now returned to being a private house. After a period of living in rented accommodation, the community moved into a new purpose-built monastery in Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
. The new monastery is on the site of a former farm and has taken the name of the farm becoming Mucknell Abbey
Mucknell Abbey is an Anglican Benedictine monastery in Worcestershire, England. The community, which formerly lived at Burford, has both male and female members. Its formal legal name is The Society of the Salutation of Mary the Virgin.
History ...
.
Current ownership
The current owners and residents of Burford Priory are media businesswoman Elisabeth Murdoch, her ex-husband Matthew Freud
Matthew Freud (born 2 November 1963) is head of Freud Communications, an international public relations firm in the United Kingdom.
Early life
Freud is the son of the actress June Flewett and the writer and German-born British politician Sir Cl ...
, owner of the public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
company Freud Communications, and their family.
A 2011 party held at the house was attended by the Chipping Norton set.
Burials at the priory
*Cuthred of Wessex
Cuthred or Cuþræd was the King of Wessex from 740 (739 according to Simeon of Durham, 741 according to John of Worcester) until 756. He succeeded Æthelheard, his relative and possibly his brother.
Cuthred inherited the kingdom while Mercia w ...
* Edmund Harman
Local legend
Little brown monk
The site of the old monks' graveyard is reportedly haunted by a small brown solemn-looking monk surrounded by an aura of sadness, who is said to pass through walls. The monk is often linked to the sound of bells which are reported coming from the old rectory at 2am, occasionally accompanied by the sound of chanting.
Gamekeeper
A second ghost reported on the grounds, particularly around the old vegetable garden, is that of an elderly gentleman in old-fashioned clothing carrying a flintlock
Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking lock (firearm), ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism its ...
or blunderbuss, who is seen late in the evenings during the month of October but vanishes if approached. The apparition has been linked by Puttick and Yurdan to a gamekeeper wrongly executed for the murder of a servant to William Lenthall (or Lord Abercomb) called John Prior (or Pryor). Puttick reports that the ghost has not been sighted since the nuns took up residence in 1949, and speculates that their prayers may have put it to rest.
Poltergeist
An unused room in the Priory is also reported to contain an active poltergeist, and a feeling of oppression.
References
Sources
*
*
External links
{{coord, 51.809318, -1.638905, type:landmark_region:GB_source:Wikimapia_scale:2000, name=Burford Priory, display=title
Country houses in Oxfordshire
Grade I listed houses
Grade I listed buildings in Oxfordshire
Monasteries in Oxfordshire
Jacobean architecture in the United Kingdom
Augustinian monasteries in England
Hospitals established in the 13th century
13th-century establishments in England
Christian monasteries established in the 13th century
Reportedly haunted locations in South East England
Burford