Dunster Priory

Dunster Priory was established as a Benedictine monastery around 1100 in Dunster, Somerset, England.

The first church in Dunster was built by William de Mohun who gave the church and the tithes of several manors and two fisheries, to the Benedictine Abbey at Bath. The priory, which was situated just north of the church, became a cell of the abbey. The church was shared for worship by the monks and the parishioners, however this led to several conflicts between them. One outcome was the carved rood screen which divided the church in two with the parish using the west chancel and the monks the east. The priory church is now in parochial use as the Priory Church of St George which still contains 12th and 13th century work, although most of the current building is from the 15th century. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.

By 1291 the priory had income from lands and rents of £5 13s. 3d., and from churches and ecclesiastical dues of £13 7s. 4d. according to the taxatio of Pope Nicholas IV. In 1332 it became more separated from the Abbey at Bath and became a priory in its own right. In the "Valor Ecclesiasticus" of 1535 the net annual income of the Dunster Tithe Barn is recorded as being £37.4.8d (£37 23p), with £6.13s7d ( £6.68p ) being passed on to the priory in Bath.

Dunster

Coordinates: 51°10′57″N 3°26′45″W / 51.1825°N 3.4459°W / 51.1825; -3.4459

Dunster is a village, civil parish and former manor within the English county of Somerset, today just within the north-eastern boundary of the Exmoor National Park. It lies on the Bristol Channel coast 2.5 miles (4 km) south-southeast of Minehead and 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Taunton. The United Kingdom Census of 2011 recorded a parish population of 817.

Iron Age hillforts testify to occupation of the area for thousands of years. The village grew up around Dunster Castle which was built on the Tor by the Norman warrior William I de Moyon (d. post 1090) shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Castle is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. From that time it was the caput of the Feudal barony of Dunster. The Castle was remodelled on several occasions by the Luttrell family who were lords of the manor from the 14th to 20th centuries. The benedictine Dunster Priory was established in about 1100. The Priory Church of St George, dovecote and tithe barn are all relics from the Priory.

Dunster (disambiguation)

Dunster can refer to: