Cornworthy Devon
15c Priory Gatehouse in Cornworthy Devon,  its upper storey gone, site on the hill top at the western edge of the village at the head of a small valley to the south of Bow Creek, an inlet on the west side of the Dart estuary .  
It is all that remains except for traces of a south east quadrangle enclosing a natural spring on the highest part of the site of an Augustinian priory.  
 The smaller pedestrian passage has a ribbed vault, with the ribs and decorated bosses in granite, between outer arches in shale. Both vaults were divided centrally by arches and jambs, which have been robbed, on which the doors were hung. In the south-east corner of the main passageway a door with a moulded granite arch opens onto a spiral stair which is in part housed externally in a turret. It leads to a second storey room furnished with three windows, a fireplace and garderobe (toilet) closet. The floor was supported by joists, allowing space in the northern half for an underfloor chamber, above the lower pedestrian passage, lit by one narrow window to the west. The north gable-end of the gatehouse has the vestigial remains of a single storey porter's lodge which has a squint into the pedestrian passage and facility for withdrawing the two draw-bars of the gate. 

The priory was one of only 3 houses in Devon for nuns andt was the most westerly, poorest and isolated.   It was thought to have been founded  c 1230 by either Eva de Cantelupe (nee de Braose) Lady of Totnes or her mother. The endowments were largely from the Marshall estates; the founder's rights passed with the lordship of Totnes.  However the identity of the founder is not certain although if founded after 1205 &amp; before 1274,  then it must have been by a member of the De Braose family who were granted the manor of Cornworthy at that time.  ( (the Zouch family acquired it in 
1274). 
The earliest reference to the site occurs in 1238. A list of eleven of the prioresses has been reconstructed from secondary sources, mainly the episcopal registers of the Bishops of Exeter. Some entries give an indication of the range of the monastic buildings: in 1381 there is a reference to the Chapel of St Mary Magdalene, in 1421 to the infirmary, in 1461 to the chapter house, in 1521 to the dorter (dormitory) and frater (dining hall). 
In 1536 when it was dissolved, there was a prioress and 7 nuns in residence who were pensioned off.  This was in the reign of Henry VIII, following an Act of Parliament which was originally intended to reform the religious houses by disbanding the smallest and poorest of their number. 
A condition of the subsequent sale of the buildings was that they were to be rendered unfit for monastic use, and this was greatly assisted by the Crown's sequestration of all the roofing lead.    It remained in Crown ownership until 1558-9 when it was sold to Edward Harris, and it remained with that family for 200 years.
 In 1770 it was recorded in the survey by Dean Milles that only the gatehouse, an old house, and a barn near the gatehouse survived, the rest of the site being utilised as orchards. The 1844 Tithe Map shows that farm buildings had been constructed to the south-east of the gateway in the location of the present ruined structures. The use of the land for orchards has continued into the present century. 

Derek Harper CCL <a href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4359859" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4359859</a> &amp; Robin Stott CCL <a href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4013071" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4013071</a>
cornworthy priory abbey devon gatehouse