More information : (SP 488 439) Priory (NAT) on site of Priory (NR). (1)
Chacombe Priory (Augustinian) was founded temp Hen II, dissolved 1536. At the east end of the house (Chacombe Priory) is a short building known as the chapel which is medieval, including some 13 c features. Bridges states ... the gatehouse and lodge of the Abbey were not long since standing, at a small distance from it (Bridges 18 c county historian in original volume not available for perusal). (2-5)
The present house "Chacombe Priory" dates from the E 17c, but there is little of this period now apparent later additions, restoration and modernisation having been heavy. See photograph. At SP 4881 4388 are the remains of the chapel which is the sole remaining feature of the Augustinian house. This building has been restored, heightened and renovated and is now in use for general storage. C200 nest-holes testify to its earlier use as a cote. It is now in good condition see photographs. The published fish ponds are water filled and ornamental. The gatehouse/lodge could not be sited. The whole property is open to the public at selected times.
Site of Augustinian Priory (centred SP 488439). The S. and E. boundaries of the grounds around the house are defined by a continuous water-filled ditch with a total length of about 500 m. In its present form this is an 18th-century landscape feature. At its N.E. corner the line of the pond is continued N. and W. by two rectangular depressions 10m. wide and up to 1 m. deep linked by a short channel and further W., along the N. and W. sides of the priory grounds, there is a wide ditch or pond 10m. wide and 1 m. deep.
These channels. forming a continuous line of water along the N. and W. sides of the priory ground, lie beyond the landscape gardens of the existing house , and have not been altered; they indicate that the whole of the medieval priory precinct was bounded by a wide, water-filled ditch or fishpond. Within the precinct, immediately N. and N.W. of the house, are two further ponds, one rectangular, the other of more irregular shape. They are both ornamental, but may have originated as Medieval fishponds of the priory. At least three medieval coffin slabs have been found in the grounds of the priory, including one of 13th-century date. (7) |