Burlescombe

R.N. Worth. (1895). A History of Devonshire. London: Elliot Stock, p. 109

Transcribed by Michael Steer

At Canonleigh, in Burlescombe, and not far from the Somersetshire border, are the remains of a monastery, originally founded by Walter Claville, temp. Henry II., for a prior and Austin canons. Maud de Clare, Countess of Gloucester, converted it, however, in the reign of Edward I, into a nunnery for an abbess and canonesses of the same order. At the Dissolution, the house had a clear yearly rental of £197 3s.1d. A market had been granted to it in 1286. The lands by exchange became the property of Sir George St. Leger, In Burlescombe parish is Ayshford, the seat of one of the oldest families in this part of Devon, now represented on the female side by the Ayshford Sandfords, of Nynehead.