51°25′43″N01°51′33″W / 51.42861°N 1.85917°W /51.42861; -1.85917Avebury Priory was analien house ofBenedictine monks in Wiltshire, England, between the early 12th century and the Dissolution.
William de Tancarville, chamberlain toHenry I, granted anAvebury estate (which he had recently received from the King) to theAbbey of Saint-Georges, Boscherville, Normandy in 1114,[1] and a priory was established at Avebury soon afterwards.[2] It was one of two such cells in England: William had also donated the church and manor atEdith Weston, Rutland, in or before the same year, leading to the establishment ofEdith Weston Priory.[3] At Avebury the monks did not have control of the parish church which was held byCirencester Abbey, causing disputes overtithes in the next century.[2]
An inventory made in 1324 found around 600 sheep, two horses and two beds; the abbey typically had three or four monks in England, divided between Avebury and Edith Weston. Most foreign monks were expelled in 1378, and thereafter the land was tenanted by a succession of royal servants who undertook to provide a chaplain to conduct services. In 1411 the lands were granted to thecollegiate church atFotheringhay, Northamptonshire, which held them until theDissolution in the 1530s.[2]
The names of priors are recorded sporadically between 1336 and 1377, and are listed in the Victoria County History.[2]
The house on the site of the monks'manor house is known asAvebury Manor and since 1991 has been owned by theNational Trust.[4] Parts of theGrade I listed house date from c.1557.[5]
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