St Mary's Priory was established at Princethorpe in 1835, and was the fourth home of the Benedictine nuns since 1792, when they fled from France during the French Revolution.

The nuns had run a girls' boarding schools at the Priory, but dwindling numbers meant that they needed to search for smaller premises, which they found at Fernham in Berkshire.

Sadly, as their numbers fell to less than a dozen, they were forced to close the hourse at Fernham in 2002 and join other Benedictine communities. We are still in touch with some of them.