Ickleton Priory

Ickleton Priory

Location within Cambridgeshire
Monastery information
Order	Benedictine
Established	12th century
Disestablished	1536
Dedicated to	St Mary Magdalene
Diocese	Ely
Controlled churches	Arrington, Ickleton
Architecture
Functional Status	defunct
Heritage designation	Grades II & II*
Designated date	1966, 1967
Site
Location	Ickleton, Cambridgeshire
Coordinates	52°4′15″N 0°10′15″E / 52.07083°N 0.17083°E / 52.07083; 0.17083Coordinates: 52°4′15″N 0°10′15″E / 52.07083°N 0.17083°E / 52.07083; 0.17083
Grid reference	TL48904362
Visible remains	Core of Abbey Farmhouse; 13th or 14th century barn
Public access	no
Other information	nunnery

Ickleton Priory was a Benedictine priory of nuns at Ickleton, Cambridgeshire, England. It was established in the middle of the 12th century and suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536.

The priory's dedicatee was Saint Mary Magdalene.

The earliest record of Ickleton Priory's existence is a commission issued between 1174 and 1181 by Pope Alexander III. This was in response to the priory's claim that in about 1163 Thomas Becket, then Archbishop of Canterbury, had granted the nuns in income of 40 shillings from the parish church of nearby Fowlmere.

The priory dominated Ickleton for three and a half centuries and held the parish's principal manor, which by 1536 covered 714 acres (289 ha). However, the priory's total estates were not extensive and the priory was neither large nor wealthy. By 1279 the priory had the small manor of Netherhall in Arrington, which it held of Lady Clare. In 1393 the priory acquired a messuage at nearby Duxford under licence.

The priory held more land in Essex than Cambridgeshire. This included a manor, later called Impey Hall, at Buttsbury and . The priory's other Cambridgeshire lands were in the parishes of Ashdon, Elmington, Great Chesterford, Greshall, Littlebury and Strethall.