Name: DUNKESWELL Location: nr Dunkeswell
County: Devon Foundation: 1201 Mother house: Forde Relocation: None Founder: William Brewer Dissolution: February 1539 Prominent members: Access: Open to the public
This abbey was founded in 1201 by the royal
servant, William Brewer, who had already endowed many monasteries
his lifetime. The grants he made to Dunkeswell, however, were particularly
lavish and were mainly located in east Devon. It seems
that William intended
this foundation to be his place of retirement for, in 1224, he
renounced all his worldly possessions and took the habit at Dunkeswell.
William died two years later and was buried before the High
son also granted the community an important property at Buckland
Brewer and by 1290 the monastery had come to possess a very substantial
estate. In the survey of 1535 the abbeys total annual income
was assessed at £294, and the monastery fell with most of
the larger houses in 1539.(2)
1841 limited excavations were carried
out prior to the construction of Holy Trinity Church, which
was built over the nave of the medieval monastic church in 1842.
All that remains today of the original complex are the earthworks
of two substantial fishponds and a ruinous piece of the west
A fragment of a later medieval gatehouse can also be viewed but
very little of the principle abbey survives above ground.(3) The
can be accessed by the public at all reasonable times.