Davington Priory was a priory on the north Kent coast of England. It sits on Davington Hill, now a northern suburb of Faversham but then an isolated rural location.
Davington Priory was a priory on the north Kent coast of England. It sits on Davington Hill, now a northern suburb of Faversham but then an isolated rural location.
A Benedictine nunnery was built at Davington in 1153. It managed to avoid the violence of the Dissolution of the Monasteries by a natural decline in the early 16th century – the last nun died in 1535. The priory passed to the Crown, who sold it to Sir Thomas Cheney (Cheyney). Cheney was a favourite of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn, and was appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1536.
The nave of the Norman church continues to this day as the parish church, which is dedicated to St Mary Magdalene and St Lawrence – unusually it was privately owned until the Church of England bought it in 1931. The choir of the church was demolished by 1580 to provide building stone, and one of the twin towers had gone by 1692.
Part of the cloister and nuns' domestic quarters were converted into a house, which was bought by the Church of England in 1931 and sold as a private residence to the antiques dealer and collector Christopher Gibbs in 1972, and he in turn sold it in 1982. [1] It was at Davington Priory that David Litvinoff lived from 1972 until 1975, when he ended his life through an overdose of pills. [2]
The Priory is now owned by Bob Geldof, [3] who bought it from his friend Gibbs. [4] [5] By 2023, Geldof had lived there for 40 years. [3] According to one local, retired publican Terence Boulton, "He's [Geldof] very approachable and doesn't act like a superstar. He talks to people and is often seen walking around the town". [3]
Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part of the punk rock movement. The band had UK number one hits with his co-compositions "Rat Trap" and "I Don't Like Mondays". Geldof starred as Pink in Pink Floyd's 1982 film Pink Floyd – The Wall. As a fundraiser, Geldof organised the charity supergroup Band Aid and the concerts Live Aid and Live 8, and co-wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas?", one of the best-selling singles to date.
Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, 8 miles (13 km) from Sittingbourne, 48 miles (77 km) from London and 10 miles (16 km) from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British trackway which was used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons, and known as Watling Street. The name is of Old English origin, meaning "the metal-worker's village".
Minster is a town on the north coast of the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, south-east England. It is in the Swale administrative district, and within that, in the parish of Minster-on-Sea. According to the 2021 Census, the population of Minster was 17,389.
Littlemore is a district and civil parish in Oxford, England. The civil parish includes part of Rose Hill. It is about 2+1⁄2 miles (4 km) southeast of the city centre of Oxford, between Rose Hill, Blackbird Leys, Cowley, and Sandford-on-Thames. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 5,646, with the electoral ward having a total population of 6,441.
Woodspring Priory is a former Augustinian priory. It is near the scenic limestone promontory of Sand Point and Middle Hope, owned by the National Trust, beside the Severn Estuary about 3 miles (5 km) north-east of Weston-super-Mare, within the English unitary authority of North Somerset. Many of the buildings are Grade I listed, and the whole site is scheduled as an ancient monument.
Sopwell Priory was a Benedictine nunnery founded around 1140 on the site of an ancient hermitage in Sopwell, Hertfordshire, England. After the Dissolution, the priory was torn down and a Tudor manor house constructed in its place.
Ospringe is a village and area of Faversham in the English county of Kent. It is also the name of a civil parish, which since 1935 has not included the village of Ospringe.
Thomas Willement was an English stained glass artist, called "the father of Victorian stained glass", active from 1811 to 1865.
Davington is a suburb of Faversham in Kent, England.
Hugh of Wells was a medieval Bishop of Lincoln. He began his career in the diocese of Bath, where he served two successive bishops, before joining royal service under King John of England. He served in the royal administration until 1209, when he was elected to the see, or bishopric, of Lincoln. When John was excommunicated by Pope Innocent III in November 1209, Hugh went into exile in France, where he remained until 1213.
Faversham, in Kent, England, has claims to be the cradle of the UK's explosives industry: it was also to become one of its main centres. The first gunpowder plant in the UK was established in the 16th century, possibly at the instigation of the abbey at Faversham. With their estates and endowments, monasteries were keen to invest in promising technology.
Peaches Honeyblossom Geldof was an English columnist, television personality, and model.
Langley Priory is a former Benedictine nunnery in the civil parish of Isley cum Langley, in the North West Leicestershire district, in the county of Leicestershire, England. It is located around a mile and a half south of East Midlands Airport; around a mile from the village of Diseworth.
Burford Priory is a Grade I listed country house and former priory at Burford in West Oxfordshire, England owned by Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of Rupert Murdoch, together with Matthew Freud.
Studley Priory was a small house of Benedictine nuns, ruled by a prioress. It was founded some time before 1176 in the hamlet of Studley in what is now the village of Horton-cum-Studley, 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England, at 1 Horton Hill Road. In 1176, the priory received a grant from Bernard of St. Walery. The nuns were unhappy to be served poor beef and new beer on Thursday and Sunday nights, and no mutton. The priory was declared closed by 1536, but appears to have experienced a brief revival before its suppression in 1539. The priory lands were sold to the Croke family. The family built the house now known as Studley Priory, which still stands in its 10 acres (4.0 ha) of grounds, in 1587; a member of the Croke family was a judge in the 1649 trial of Charles I. The house and its estate was owned by the Croke family until around 1870 when it was sold to the Henderson family, who occupied it until World War II. During the war, it was a sanatorium for Royal Air Force officers.
Wroxall Priory was a medieval monastic house in Wroxall, Warwickshire, England.
Barrow Court is a manor house in Barrow Gurney, Somerset, England. The site was originally Barrow Gurney Nunnery and was rebuilt in the 16th and 19th centuries. It has been designated as a Grade II* listed building.
Christopher Henry Gibbs was a British antiques dealer and collector who was also an influential figure in men's fashion and interior design in 1960s London. He has been credited with inventing Swinging London, and has been called the "King of Chelsea" and "London's most famous antiques dealer". The New York Times described him as a "man of infinite taste, judgment and experience, the one who introduced a whole generation to the distressed bohemian style of interior design."
David Litvinoff was a consultant for the British film industry who traded on his knowledge of the criminal elements of the East End of London. A man for whom there are few truly reliable facts, it is unclear how genuine his expertise really was, though he certainly knew the Kray Twins and was particularly friendly with Ronnie Kray, according to a biography published in 2016. He entertained his showbiz friends with stories of the Krays' activities and his niece Vida described him as "the court jester to the rich, smart Chelsea set of the sixties".