Priory Cottages, Steventon

King Henry I gave the manor of Steventon to the priory of Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle in Rouen, a cell of the Abbey of Bec in Normandy.

It always remained just a monastic grange, the building now called Priory Cottages, served by one or two monks.

[1] In 1939 the cottages were endowed to the National Trust by a group of women philanthropists called Ferguson’s Gang.

[2] Ferguson’s Gang kept their identities secret and attracted publicity for the National Trust by delivering funds in spectacular ways.

In July 1939 they invaded the National Trust’s AGM with what was reported to be ‘A Benificent Bomb’ but which was in fact a metal pineapple containing £100, which was their second down-payment for Priory Cottages.