Priorato de la monja Appleton

El Priorato de Nun Appleton fue un priorato cerca de Appleton Roebuck , en North Yorkshire , Inglaterra . Fue fundado como convento de monjas alrededor de 1150 por Eustace de Merch y su esposa. Fue disuelto en 1539, cuando las monjas comenzaron a recibir pensiones. ^{[ 1 ]}

Posteriormente, Nun Appleton fue la finca rural de la familia Fairfax en el West Riding de Yorkshire .

El edificio en sí está construido con ladrillo rojizo anaranjado, sillares y un tejado de pizarra galesa, y consta de tres plantas con planta rectangular. Está catalogado como monumento de grado II y actualmente se encuentra en unas 200 hectáreas de parque. ^{[ 2 ]}

La finca fue adquirida por el primer Lord Fairfax de Cameron , un hombre de Yorkshire con un título nobiliario escocés , tras la Disolución de los Monasterios , de quien pasó al tercer Lord Fairfax de Cameron , el conocido comandante de la Guerra Civil Inglesa, quien construyó la mansión actual a finales del siglo XVII. En su época ( c. 1651 ), la finca fue la inspiración para Upon Appleton House de Andrew Marvell , un importante poema sobre una casa de campo . Marvell fue tutor de la hija de Thomas Fairfax, Mary. ^{[ 3 ]} Tras la muerte de Mary (que se había casado con el segundo duque de Buckingham ) en 1704, la finca fue finalmente vendida c. 1711 al concejal William Milner de Leeds , quien realizó muchas modificaciones en la casa.

His son William was created the 1st Milner Baronet, of Nun Appleton Hall in the County of York, in 1717 and was later Member of Parliament for York. The estate then descended in the Milner family until 1875, when the estate's owner, Sir William Mordaunt Milner, 6th Baronet, was more interested in gambling than looking after it. By 1877 it had been leased to William Beckett-Denison, a wealthy Leeds banker. After the death of Sir William Milner in Cairo in 1881, his brother Frederick inherited the estate and in 1882 married Adeline, eldest daughter of William Beckett-Denison. After William Beckett's gruesome death in 1890, the Hall and estate were sold to Angus Holden, a sometime M.P. (later created Baron Holden), a woollen manufacturer from Bradford, whose ownership was somewhat brief as he died in 1912.

The hall was now empty and many of the tenanted farms were sold. The estate was put up for auction in 1914 and again in 1917 and eventually acquired by a private company which felled many of the trees but by 1919 had gone into liquidation. It was bought in 1920 by Sir Benjamin Dawson, 1st Baronet, another Bradford textile manufacturer, who was High Sheriff of Yorkshire for 1951–52. During the Second World War the hall was taken over by the London Maternity Hospital. When the stable block accidentally burnt down it was afterwards refurbished as a theatre and made available to the local community.

The property was bought from the last occupant, Sir Benjamin's daughter Joan Dawson, for £1.2 million in the 1980s by Humphrey Smith of the Samuel Smith brewing family. In 2015 the house was reported to be fenced off, empty, unused and deteriorating.^[4] However as of 2024 renovation work has commenced.^[5]

Nun Appleton Priory played an important part in the career of the young composer William Baines (1899–1922). He was befriended by the Dawsons in 1921, and was inspired by the house and its grounds to write many of his "nature" pieces for piano, including Twilight Woods and Glancing Sunlight.^[6]

• Listed buildings in Appleton Roebuck

• Página principal de Appleton Roebuck . Archivada del original el 18 de agosto de 2010. Consultada el 12 de marzo de 2013 .

53°51′09″N 1°09′22″W / 53.85250°N 1.15611°W / 53.85250; -1.15611