The Nunnery

The Priory of Douglas was a monastery of nuns, possibly dating to the reign of Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles (1187-1226). It was suppressed by King Henry VIII in 1540. Nothing remains of the monastery.

 In 1610, the Nunnery was granted to the Earl of Derby by King James. The buildings were acquired by Richard Calcot, Comptroller of the Isle of Man, who is said to have married the last Prioress, Margaret Goodman. The family occupied a house on the site until their descendants, the Heywoods, sold it to the Taubmans in 1776.

The mansion remained in the possession of the Taubman family until the estate was acquired by the Isle of Man International Business School in 1999, following which the Isle of Man University Centre was established there in 2008.

The building changed its use in 2012. From a standalone institution, it has become a campus of the Isle of Man College.  In 2016, the college changed its name to University College Isle of Man (UCM). The courses at the Nunnery campus are delivered over three floors of the main building.