Otterton Priory was a priory in

Otterton Otterton is a village and civil parish in East Devon, England. The parish lies on the English Channel and is surrounded clockwise from the south by the parishes of East Budleigh, Bicton, Colaton Raleigh, Newton Poppleford and Harpford and Sidmou ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

founded before 1087 and suppressed in 1414. The tower of the parish church is the major remaining structure of the monastery. The manor house probably reuses parts of the monastery's fabric.

History

It was founded some time before 1087 as an alien priory of

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monks. It was a cell of the monastery of Mont St. Michael in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

and in 1332 King John is recorded as creating establishing the priory for four monks. However, it is possible that he simply increased the revenues and improved the buildings of an existing monastery. In 1332 it was briefly sold off for £120 but later a monk from the parent house probably re-established it. It was finally suppressed in 1414 and the lands associated with it were given to

Syon Abbey Syon Abbey , also called simply Syon, was a dual monastery of men and women of the Bridgettine Order, although it only ever had abbesses during its existence. It was founded in 1415 and stood, until its demolition in the 16th century, on the l ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

Buildings

The priory probably stood to the east of the present church on the site, St Michael and the tower would have been between the parochial

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and the east end used by the priory. Other than the tower, no remains of any monastic building are visible. Richard Duke obtained the priory lands at the Dissolution of the Monasteries and some time after 1539 constructed the manor house from part of the monastic buildings by. The manor house is now converted into a number of almshouses.

References

Monasteries in Devon {{UK-Christian-monastery-stub