[2] Sir Robert fitz Martin was granted the island in 1113 and his mother Geva founded St Mary’s Priory as a daughter house of the Tironensian St. Dogmaels Abbey in the 12th century.

It was constructed of limestone and indigenous sandstone around a small courtyard, and probably built on a preexisting Celtic Christian site,[4] and lasted to the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539.

[3] The buildings were significantly upgraded in the 16th century after the priory was secularized, but there is no evidence that they were used by either of the owning families of the time.

[3] Bushell sold the property in 1906 to the Anglican Benedictine community that built the current abbey, but rented the house and the priory until he died in 1917.

The church stands on the south side, and consists of nave, chancel and west tower with a spire.