Murdoch's daughter moves in (From Witney Gazette)

Murdoch's daughter moves in

7:10pm Thursday 18th September 2008 in Witney By Chris Koenig

Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of media magnate Rupert, will move in when monks and nuns move out of Burford Priory at the end of November.

Ms Murdoch and husband Matthew Freud, the PR guru, have bought the priory, which dates back almost 800 years. The couple have been living at Woodstock.

The 22-bedroom, largely Jacobean home was on the market for £6.5m. Residents of the town became aware that the chief executive of Shine TV was moving in when, earlier this month, she threw a party at the priory to celebrate her 40th birthday.

Hotels were crowded out with media executives and politicians, including former PM Tony Blair and Conservative Party leader and Witney MP David Cameron. Also present were the nuns and monks.

A spokesman for the eight Benedictines in the community, four nuns and four monks, said: "The sale has gone through and we shall be moving in the second half of November, but we are not yet ready to tell you exactly where we shall be moving to."

The Benedictines have occupied the historic Grade I-listed priory since 1949 when the Society of the Salutation of Mary the Virgin, a commuinity of nuns, bought it. In 1987, when the number of nuns had dwindled to six, monks moved in.

The priory is mentioned in documents from 1226 when Henry III gave it to the Hospital of St John the Evangelist.