Polsloe Priory

Remnants of Polsloe Priory in 2020, with a new roof

Polsloe Priory, also known as St Katherine's Priory,[1] was a Benedictine priory for women (a nunnery) in Devon, England. It was founded in around 1159 on land to the east of Exeter, on a site that is now part of the city's suburb of Polsloe.[2] At the time it was the only religious house for women in Devon,[3] but two others were founded later: at Cornworthy and Canonsleigh Abbey.[4] The first prioress of whom any record survives was Avelina in 1218.[5] Amongst the holdings of the priory was the Church of St Mary, Marston Magna in Somerset.[6]

In common with most other Catholic institutions, it was dissolved by Henry VIII, in 1539,[2] even though it had paid a fine of £400 for exemption from the Suppression of Religious Houses Act 1535.[7] At dissolution it had 14 nuns, including the prioress and subprioress.[8]

Most of the buildings have been demolished, but one remains, built of the local red sandstone and believed to date from around 1320.[2] English Heritage have designated it a Grade II* listed building.[1] As of 2016 it is used by the local community association for occasional events, having passed from private to City Council hands in 1934.[2]

See also

• Exeter Cathedral
• Exeter monastery

References

1. Historic England. "Polsloe Priory (1169490)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
2. Cornforth, David. "Polsloe Priory". Exeter Memories. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
3. Bartlett, Robert (2000). England under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075-1225. OUP. p. 428. ISBN 0-19-822741-8.
4. Lega-Weeks (1934). p. 181.
5. Lega-Weeks (1934). p. 195.
6. Robinson, W.J. (1915). West Country Churches. Bristol: Bristol Times and Mirror Ltd. pp. 43–47.
7. Cooke, Kathleen (1996). The English Nuns and the Dissolution. The Cloister and the World. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 295. ISBN 0-19-820440-X.
8. MacCaffrey, Wallace T. (1975). Exeter, 1540–1640. The Growth of an English Town (2nd ed.). Harvard University Press. p. 176. ISBN 0-674-27503-9.

Sources

• Lega-Weeks, Ethel (1934), "The Pre-Reformation History of St. Katherine's Priory, Polsloe", Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 66: 181–199

Further reading

• Lega-Weeks, Ethel (1935), "The History of St. Katherine's Priory, Polsloe, Part II", Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 67: 349–359
• Lega-Weeks, Ethel (1937), "The History of St. Katherine's Priory, Polsloe, Part III", Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 69: 447–470
• Lega-Weeks, Ethel (1938), "The History of St. Katherine's Priory, Polsloe, Part IV. Polsloe Tithes", Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 70: 423–432
• Orme, Nicholas (2015), "Polsloe Priory", Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 147: 185–212

50°44′3″N 3°30′7″W