Monkton House in

Broughton Gifford Broughton Gifford is a village and civil parish about west of Melksham in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Norrington Common and The Common. History Formerly much of Broughton Gifford and the surrounding area was covered ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England is a

Grade II* 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 ...

16th-century house.

History

In the 12th century

Cluniac The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began wit ...

monks of the

Order of Saint Benedict The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict ( la, Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as OSB), are a Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), religious order of the Catholic Church following the Rule of Saint Benedic ...

founded a monastery at

Monkton Farleigh Monkton Farleigh is a village and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, on high ground northwest of Bradford-on-Avon, and a similar distance east of the city of Bath. The parish includes the hamlets of Farleigh Wick and Pinckney Green. In th ...

, acquiring land in the neighbourhood. On the Dissolution of the Monasteries the priory and abbey land, including the manor of Monkton, were given to Sir

Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Baron Beauchamp, KG (22 May 1539 – 6 April 1621), of Wulfhall and Totnam Lodge in Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, of Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset, of Netley Abbey, Hampshire, and of Hertford House, Cannon R ...

. Seymour leased it in 1600 to Edward Long, son of a wealthy Wiltshire clothier, Henry Long of Whaddon. Edward had already purchased the manor of Rood Ashton three years before. Long later bought the house on 15 May 1615 and left it to his two sons Edward and John, who occupied it in succession. John appears to have carried out an extensive building programme in or around 1647 (marked by a plaque on the wall of the house) involving repairs, alterations, re-roofing and an extension on the eastern side. A chimney-piece with heavy carving, believed to be part of an altar tomb from

Monkton Farleigh Priory The Priory of St Mary Magdalene was a Cluniac priory in Monkton Farleigh, Wiltshire, England, in the 12th to 16th centuries. The priory was founded soon after 1120 by Maud, widow of Humphrey de Bohun, and her son Humphrey II de Bohun. A priory ch ...

is in one of the bedrooms. At some point during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

the household was forced to accommodate soldiers fighting for Cromwell's Parliamentarian army. Possibly John's building programme stretched his finances as he was labelled a delinquent (1649–50) and his estate was sequestered. He was succeeded by his son Thomas Long of Rowden in

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

(died 1691), the estate was secured, and continued in the Long family until 10 May 1669 when Thomas sold it to Sir James Thynne of

Longleat Longleat is an English stately home and the seat of the Marquesses of Bath. A leading and early example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, it is adjacent to the village of Horningsham and near the towns of Warminster and Westbury in Wiltshire, ...

. However, Thomas appears to have continued to rent the property until 1671. William Thynne then appears as the owner.Peter Waterman, Wiltshire Libraries and Heritage Service The house is currently owned by the Kirk family.

References

{{coord, 51.35998, -2.16872, format=dms, region:GB-WIL_type:landmark, display=title Houses completed in the 16th century Country houses in Wiltshire Grade II* listed buildings in Wiltshire Grade II* listed houses