Abbey Farmhouse, (Benedictine Nunnery) Duxford Road, Ickleton

History of Abbey Farmhouse

Listed building:

Medieval, C13 core with C18 and C19 alterations and additions. Clunch rubble, timber-framed and plastered and brick.

The Priory appears to have founded at around the middle of the 12th century. In 1290 the nuns held a manor in Ickleton and several other pieces of property worth just over £15, and it had the right to hold an annual fair on the  Feast of the Blessed Virgin, and a weekly market on Thursday. The nuns had been allowing  lodgers to supplement their income. They were forbidden to allow married women to stay in the house for holidays or as boarders. They were also refused permission to keep dogs as pets. In 1381 this was the only religious house to have all its records burnt during the Peasants Revolt.

A book of prayers belonging to, and perhaps written by Dame Elizabeth Trotter a nun of the Abbey of Ickleton, is in St John’s College Library.