The Nunnery, Douglas

The Nunnery

The Nunnery is an estate outside Douglas on the Isle of Man, named after a religious foundation on the site, at grid reference SC372754.

History

Monastic era

The Priory of Douglas was a monastery of Cistercian nuns, possibly dating from the 6th century, but more likely from the 12th century. It is known to have been in existence by 1313 when it was visited by Robert Bruce. The monastery was identified as Cistercian in an account written in 1515 of an inquisition hearing which took place a century earlier.

It might have originally been dedicated to St. Brigid, who, according to a tradition, founded it and was originally buried in its church. It is known that a parish church and four chapels on the island were placed under her patronage^[1] This origin would place the monastery in the tradition of the Celtic Church, in which abbesses served as the local rulers of certain regions of Ireland, and would be consistent with the island's Celtic heritage. The name of the only remaining building, St Bridget's Chapel, might reflect this tradition, since a dedication to St. Mary would have been more usual for monasteries of the Cistercian Order. If this was the case, the monastery likely joined the Cistercian Order in the 12th century, when the only monastery of monks on the island, Rushen Abbey, was part of a merger with the Cistercians. This would have been an attractive step for communities of women, given a number of special privileges that this Order provided them, and was a frequent option taken by nuns in England and Scotland.

The Prioress also held the office of Baroness on the island, holding her own court. The Priory was suppressed by Henry VIII in 1540 and the properties granted to Thomas Hungate. At that point in time, the community consisted of the prioress and three nuns.

Post Dissolution

The buildings were acquired by Richard Calcot, Comptroller of the Isle of Man, who is said to have married the last Prioress, Margaret Goodman. The family occupied a house on the site until their descendants, the Heywoods, sold it to the Taubmans in 1776. A new mansion was built for John Taubman in 1823. It was designed by both John Pinch the elder and his son, John Pinch the younger, of Bath, built in the "Strawberry Hill" Gothic Revival style. St. Bridget's Chapel, served as a coach house for centuries, but it was restored to its original use as a place of worship in the 1880's.^[2] The building was used in this manner until 1998, when new owners evicted the congregation, and it was deconsecrated as a chapel.^[3]

The mansion remained in the possession of the Taubman family: George Taubman Goldie was born here in 1846. This remained the case until the estate was acquired by the Isle of Man International Business School in 1999 to serve as their site of operations, following which the Isle of Man University Centre was established there in 2008.

Trivia

The estate has been the location for several films, including Stiff Upper Lips, Relative Values, Chromophobia and Stormbreaker. It was also occupied for a number of years by Robert Sangster, the owner of racehorses and Vernons Pools.

The Nunnery Estate included a Mill, Mill House, several farms and many cottages. The Mill House was renamed The Dolls House in 1992 and is a private house. The Mill is now called Shearwater House and is an office building. The Centre for Manx Studies and Manx Heritage Foundation will occupy the former stables and chapel in 2010.

References

1. ^ Manx Note Book, vol. iii (1887) "St. Bridget's Chapel" [1]
2. ^ Manx Monastic Establishments [2]
3. ^ The Nunnery, Douglas [3]

Sources

• David E. Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (Scotland), with an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man (1957).
• Ian B. Cowan, David E. Easson, Medieval Religious Houses (Scotland), 2nd ed. (1976). ISBN 0-582-12069-1.

External links

• Isle of Man Business School
• Manx notebook on The Nunnery, Douglas

Coordinates: 54°08′53″N 4°29′38″W / 54.148°N 4.494°W / 54.148; -4.494

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This article about a Christian monastery, abbey, priory or other religious house is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Buildings and structures in the Isle of Man History of the Isle of Man Religion in the Isle of Man Cistercian monasteries of nuns Noble titles of the Isle of Man Douglas, Isle of Man Roman Catholic Church in the Isle of Man Isle of Man stubs European building and structure stubs Christian monastery stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР Harold Douglas Pratt, Jr. Douglas Pulman Look at other dictionaries: The Nunnery — is an estate outside Douglas on the Isle of Man, named after a religious foundation on the site, at gbmapping|SC372754.The Priory of Douglas was a Cistercian foundation, possibly dating from the 12th century and known to have been in existence by …   Wikipedia Douglas, Isle of Man — Coordinates: 54°08′43″N 4°28′54″W / 54.14521°N 4.48172°W / 54.14521; 4.48172 …   Wikipedia Douglas Head — This article is about the geographic point. For the person, a Minnesota politician, see Douglas M. Head. The second (and current) Douglas Head lighthouse looking in a southerly direction Douglas Head is a rocky point on the Isle of Man… …   Wikipedia The Rough Wooing — was a term coined by Sir Walter Scott and H. E. Marshall to describe the Anglo Scottish war pursued intermittently from 1544 to 1551. It followed from the failure of the Scots to honour the terms of the 1543 Treaty of Greenwich, by which the… …   Wikipedia The Prowler — Título The Prowler Ficha técnica Dirección Joseph Zito Producción James Bochis David Streit Joseph Zito …   Wikipedia Español Geography and the Church — • Explains the nature of this science and the course of its evolution Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Geography and the Church     Geography and the Church      …   Catholic encyclopedia List of the Child Ballads — This list of the Child Ballads contains all the 305 ballad types in Francis James Child s collection Popular English and Scottish Ballads , collected in the 19th century, colloquially known as the Child Ballads; see this for further general… …   Wikipedia George Taubman Goldie — Sir George Dashwood Taubman Goldie (20 May, 1846 ndash; 20 August, 1925) was a Manx administrator who played a major role in the founding of Nigeria. In many ways, his role was similar to that of Cecil Rhodes elsewhere in Africa but he lacked… …   Wikipedia John Pinch — the elder and John Pinch the younger were architects, father and son, working mainly in the city of Bath, England. They were both surveyors to the Pulteney and Darlington estate and responsible for many of the later Georgian buildings in Bath,… …   Wikipedia Drukken Steps — The site of the Drukken Steps over the Red Burn on the 1774 Toll road to Millburn via Higgens House[1] The Drukken or Drucken Steps were stepping stones across the Red Burn in Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland and are associated with Scotland s… …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”