Trailing clouds of glory

The romantic appeal of the past hums through three historic country houses

- Penny Churchill

ATMOSPHERIC stone ruins scattered around the English countryside bear witness to the lost wealth and power of England’s medieval monasteries, yet lovers of all things ancient remain fascinated by houses built after the Dissolution using precious stone retrieved from former monastic buildings. Three historic country houses currently on the market highlight that enduring appeal.

For sale through Ed Sugden of Savills country department (020–7016 3780) and Lindsay Cuthill’s Blue Book Agency (07967 555545) at a guide price of £7.85 million, Grade I-listed The Old Priory stands in 85 acres of glorious gardens and grounds on the edge of the south Cotswold village of North Woodchester, between the popular market towns of Nailsworth and Stroud.

Little remains of the original priory that, according to the Victoria County History, stood on the north side of the 12th-century parish church of St Mary, to which it was linked by ‘a raised, covered passage from the church to the edge of the churchyard’. The church was rebuilt in medieval times before being replaced in 1861 with a new, 14th-century-style building, using stone from the old church.