Ilchester Nunnery, in Ilchester, Somerset, England, was founded around 1217–1220 as the "White Hall Hospital of the Holy Trinity", (Latin: Alba Aula, French: Blanche Halle/Blanchesale) after the gift of a house and other property by William "The Dane" of Sock Dennis manor, Ilchester (Norman-French: Le Deneis etc., Latinised to Dacus (the adjectival form of Dacia being mediaeval Latin for Denmark) modernised to "Dennis"). From this family was probably descended the influential Denys family of Devon, (arms; three Danish battle axes) seated at Orleigh in the 16th century.The Battle Abbey Roll by The Duchess of Cleveland, Vol.1, "Denise" By 1281, it had been converted into an Augustinian nunnery.James Stevens-Cox, A History of Ilchester, the ancient county town of Somerset nos. 1-6, 8 & 9 (1958), p. 129
In the early 14th century concerns were raised about the management of the nunnery and the poverty of the nuns. The building was expanded in 1370. By 1463 the nunnery had been dissolved and its chapel become a free chapel, which itself was dissolved in 1548.
A ruined building still existed in 1791 but the stone was then used to build the nearby Castle Farm.
Prioresses Alice Atteyerde, 1315Edmund Hobhouse, Calendar of the Register of John de Drokensford, 1309–1329 (Somerset Record Society, 1887), p. 93 Alice de Chilthorne, 1316Hobhouse, op. cit., p. 115 Cecilia de Draycote, 1325Hobhouse, op. cit., p. 245 Mary, 1370William Buckler, Ilchester Almshouse Deeds: From the Time of King John to the Reign of James the First, 1200-1625 (1866), D. no. 26, App. no. 9 Matilda, occurs 1377Cler. Subs. bundle 4, no. 1, m. 6 Margaret, otherwise Marjory, 1377Cal. Pat. 1405–08, p. 306 Christina, 1423Buckler, op. cit., D. no. 11-98, App. xii
Further reading Thomas Hugo, Whitehall Hospital, Nunnery, Free Chapel, 12th-18th Century (1867) (Ilchester and District Occasional Papers (Guernsey) 52, 45–84) James Stevens Cox, Whitehall hospital, nunnery, free chapel, Ilchester (J. S. Cox, Ilchester Historical Monographs no. 6, 1950)
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