The Nunnery is an estate outside of Douglas on the Isle of Man, named after a religious foundation on the site, at grid reference SC372754 .
The Nunnery is located on Old Castletown Road, Braddan. In 1999, the estate was acquired for the Isle of Man International Business School, now part of the University College Isle of Man. [1]
The Priory of Douglas was a monastery of nuns, possibly dating to the reign of Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles (1187-1226). King Robert Bruce spent the night at the nunnery on Sunday, May 22, 1313 prior to beginning his siege of Castle Rushen the next day. He took the castle three weeks later. The nunnery was suppressed as part of the dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry VIII in 1540. Nothing remains of the monastery. [2] In 1610, the Nunnery was granted to the Earl of Derby by King James.
Peter John Heywood's Estate Act 1776 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act for vesting the Settled Estates of Peter John Heywood Esquire, in the Isle of Man, called The Nunnery, in Trustees, to be sold; and for laying out the Money arising by such Sale in the Purchase of Lands and Hereditaments, in that Part of Great Britain called England, to be settled in lieu of the said Estates in the Isle of Man, intended to be sold. |
Citation | 16 Geo. 3. c. 114 |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 23 May 1776 |
The buildings were acquired by Richard Calcot, Comptroller of the Isle of Man, who is said to have married the last Prioress, Margaret Goodman. The family occupied a house on the site until their descendants, the Heywoods, sold it to the Taubmans in 1776. A new mansion was built for John Taubman in 1823. It was designed by John Pinch the elder and his son, John Pinch the younger, of Bath, built in the "Strawberry Hill" Gothic Revival style. The only surviving monastic building, St. Bridget's Chapel, served as a coach house for centuries, but it was restored to its original use as a place of worship in the 1880s. [3] The building was used in this manner until 1998, when new owners evicted the congregation, and it was deconsecrated as a chapel. [4]
The mansion remained in the possession of the Taubman family: George Taubman Goldie was born here in 1846. This remained the case until the estate was acquired by the Isle of Man International Business School in 1999 to serve as their site of operations, following which the Isle of Man University Centre was established there in 2008. The Nunnery also served as the home of Culture Vannin until its relocation to St. John's in 2016. [5]
The Isle of Man had become physically separated from Great Britain and Ireland by 6500 BC. It appears that colonisation took place by sea sometime during the Mesolithic era. The island has been visited by various raiders and trading peoples over the years. After being settled by people from Ireland in the first millennium AD, the Isle of Man was converted to Christianity and then suffered raids by Vikings from Norway. After becoming subject to Norwegian suzerainty as part of the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, the Isle of Man later became a possession of the Scottish and then the English crowns.
The dissolution of the monasteries, occasionally referred to as the suppression of the monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541, by which Henry VIII disbanded Catholic monasteries, priories, convents, and friaries in England, Wales, and Ireland; expropriated their income; disposed of their assets; and provided for their former personnel and functions.
Castletown is a town in the Isle of Man, geographically within the historical parish of Malew but administered separately. Lying at the south of the island, it was the Manx capital until 1869. The centre of town is dominated by Castle Rushen, a well-preserved medieval castle, originally built for a Viking king.
Peel is a seaside town and small fishing port in the Isle of Man, in the historic parish of German but administered separately. Peel is the third largest town in the island after Douglas and Ramsey but the fourth largest settlement, as Onchan has the second largest population but is classified as a village.
Ballasalla is a village in the parish of Malew in the south-east of the Isle of Man. The village is situated close to the Isle of Man Airport and 2 miles (3 km) north-east of the town of Castletown.
Ballabeg is a village on the Isle of Man. It is in the parish of Arbory in the sheading of Rushen, in the south of the island near Castletown. There are several small villages and hamlets with the name, although Ballabeg in Arbory is the most well-known and populous.
University College Isle of Man is the primary centre for tertiary, vocational education, higher education and adult education on the British Crown dependency of the Isle of Man, located in the Manx capital Douglas.
The Isle of Man International Business School is an institution of higher education on the Isle of Man.
The Catholic Church in the Isle of Man is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
Sir John Senhouse Goldie-Taubman JP was a Manx politician.
Major John Taubman (1746–1822) was a Manx politician.
Douglas Head is a rocky point on the Isle of Man overlooking Douglas Bay and harbour. Views extend to include Snaefell Mountain and Laxey.
Perth Charterhouse or Perth Priory, known in Latin as Domus Vallis Virtutis, was a monastic house of Carthusian monks based at Perth, Scotland. It was the only Carthusian house ever to be established in the Kingdom of Scotland, and one of the last non-mendicant houses to be founded in the kingdom. The traditional founding date of the house is 1429. Formal suppression of the house came in 1569, though this was not actualised until 1602.
The Church of St Mary on the Rock or St Mary's Collegiate Church, was a secular college of priests based on the seaward side of St Andrews Cathedral, St Andrews, just beyond the precinct walls. It is known by a variety of other names, such as St Mary of the Culdees, Kirkheugh and Church of St Mary of Kilrymont.
The Isle of Man Sea Terminal is the arrival and departure point for all passenger and car ferries operating to and from the Isle of Man, and is located in Douglas, the island's capital. It is one of the two main gateways to the Isle of Man, the other one being the Isle of Man Airport. It is operated by and is the main hub for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, which runs year-round sailings to Heysham, and seasonal sailings to Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin in the summer and Birkenhead at weekends in the winter.
Bishopscourt consists of a 17th-century mansion house, the St Nicholas in the Church of England Diocese of Sodor and Man, and the former estate of Ballachurry or Bishopscourt Manse.
The former Priory of Douglas was a Cistercian monastery of nuns on the Isle of Man, apparently founded in the reign of Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles.
Culture Vannin is the trading name for the Manx Heritage Foundation, established in 1982 by the Isle of Man Government to promote Manx culture, heritage and language. It was rebranded in February 2014, having previously been known as the "Manx Heritage Foundation", since the former title "held connotations more towards the cultural history of the island" which were not felt to be accurate to the organisation's progressive approach to invigorating Manx culture. Culture Vannin's motto is "Taking our culture forward".
The Villa Marina is an entertainment venue in Douglas, Isle of Man, which forms part of the wider Villa-Gaiety complex. It is located on Harris Promenade, looking out onto Douglas Bay, and comprises the Royal Hall, Broadway Cinema, Promenade Suite, Colonnade Suite,Dragon's Castle and the Villa Marina Gardens. The architect was Alban Jones, whose design was chosen in an open competition judged by Professor Stanley Adshead of Liverpool University.
54°08′53″N4°29′38″W / 54.148°N 4.494°W