To this Priory came many royal and noble ladies,
including Eleanor of Brittany, granddaughter of Henry II and Eleanor
of England, widow of Henry III. The Priory met the same fate as most
others at the Dissolution and its actual site is uncertain. Protector
Somerset obtained possession of the property and afterwards a house
was built by Inigo Jones, most of which has disappeared in subsequent
additions and alterations. While the Queensberry family were in
possession the poet Gay was a guest here and wrote, in a sham cave or
grotto still existing on the river bank, the _Beggar's Opera_, that
satire on certain aspects of eighteenth-century life which, strangely
enough, became lately popular after a long period of comparative
oblivion.
Amesbury Church once belonged to the Priory. Its appearance from the
outside gives the impression that it is unrestored. This is not the
case, however, for the drastic restoration and partial rebuilding has
taken place at various times. The architecture is Norman and Early
English with Decorated windows in the chancel. The double two-storied
chamber at the side of the north transept consists of a priest's room
with a chapel below.
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