The Monks of Cowick
The Monks of Cowick by Geoffrey Yeo (1987)
Friday 12th July 2024
Cowick Priory
The priory of St Andrew, Cowick, was founded in the early years of the 12th century. It was located about 1¼ miles (2 kilometres) south-west of Exeter cathedral, in what later became the parish of St Thomas. The priory survived for about four hundred years and was dissolved in 1539. The Cowick Barton inn now occupies the site.
In the 1980s, Geoffrey Yeo wrote a detailed historical account of the priory. Based on original research using the priory's surviving archives at the Devon Record Office (later re-named the Devon Heritage Centre), his work was issued as a printed booklet with the title The Monks of Cowick (privately published, Exeter, 1987). As well as describing the life of the priory, its monks, its buildings and its place in the local community, his study included an investigation of the origins and early history of St Thomas parish church.
Although it was written several decades ago, The Monks of Cowick is still the fullest scholarly account of Cowick priory and its history. To make it accessible to a wider readership, we republished it on this website in 2024. The online version has new illustrations, but the text has not been updated.
If you take an evening walk near the Cowick Barton inn at Exeter, it is said, you may happen to encounter the ghostly figure of a solitary monk. Some people say that the ghost haunts the inn itself, others believe that it can be seen crossing the fields nearby. It is usually thought to be a placid spirit, undergoing some kind of penance. Sometimes the figure is seen kneeling or crawling, and then the penance is said to take the form of laying stones for a cobbled path.
Perhaps only a few people have seen the ghostly monk, but anyone who has heard the tale must have wondered how the story arose, and what, if any, is the truth that lies behind it. In fact, the story of the ghost of Cowick Barton preserves a memory of the real monks who once lived in the St Thomas district of Exeter, and who were forcibly thrown out of their home over four hundred years ago. They were the monks who worked and worshipped at the priory of St Andrew, Cowick.
Frontispiece: Map of Cowick in the 15th century
1. The arrival of the monks
2. The buildings of Cowick priory
3. The monks and the local community
4. The founding of St Thomas church
5. The religious life of the monks
6. The monks and the church authorities
7. The priory in crisis
8. Return of the monks
9. The monks and their tenants
10. The last days of Cowick priory
11. Epilogue
Further reading