Studley Priory was a small house ofBenedictinenuns, ruled by a prioress, inOxfordshire.
Studley Priory was founded some time before 1176 in thehamlet of Studley in what is now the village ofHorton-cum-Studley, 7 miles (11 km) northeast ofOxford inOxfordshire,England, at 1 Horton Hill Road. In 1176, thepriory received a grant from Bernard of St. Walery. The nuns were unhappy to be served poor beef and new beer on Thursday and Sunday nights, and nomutton. The priory was declared closed by 1536, but appears to have experienced a brief revival before its suppression in 1539.[1] The priory lands were sold to the Croke family. The family built the house now known as Studley Priory, which still stands in its 10 acres (4.0 ha) of grounds, in 1587; a member of the Croke family was a judge in the1649 trial ofCharles I.
The house and itsestate (which comprised most of the village of Horton-cum-Studley) was owned by the Croke family until around 1870 when it was sold to the Henderson family, who occupied it untilWorld War II. During the war, it was asanatorium forRoyal Air Force officers.
In 1947 the priory was leased by Raymond and Tessa Bawtree, who (with their partner, Wilma Hessey) ran it as a country-house hotel for the next 14 years. During that time, many eminent guests stayed there (includingAdrian Boult,Gilbert Murray,Beverley Nichols andSandy Wilson; it was a favourite hostelry ofC.S. Lewis,[2] who came regularly for a Sunday-morning beer after church and in later years stayed there with his wifeJoy.The Bawtrees did not renew their lease in 1961; that year the Hendersons auctioned off their estate, including the priory. The priory was bought by the Parke family, who continued to run it as a hotel until 2004 when the business was placed in receivership due to mounting financial losses.[3] The business failed to find a buyer and the Priory was sold for reconversion to a private house.[4]
Themonastery is mentioned in thehistorical novelBlanket In The Dark byJohn Buchan who lived at nearbyElsfield. It was used as afilming location for the exterior ofSir Thomas More's Chelsea home in the 1966 version ofRobert Bolt'sA Man for All Seasons (interior shots were done in a studio, not at Studley Priory).[5]
51°48′20″N1°08′05″W / 51.805448°N 1.13464°W /51.805448; -1.13464