The Rosminian Order also owned the Grade II listed Grace Dieu Priory School nearby.

The school, which was built in 1833, closed in 2020 and in 2022 the 66-acre site was sold to the FCV International Football Academy.

Mr Whitt said: “As a child I used to cycle past the ruins, they were just a pile of stones in the middle of a field.

“We formed in about 1996 and after much conservation work on the priory, the priory was finally ready to be opened to the public.

“We were approached about two-and-a-half years ago to see if we would be interested in converting the lease we hold on the land into a freehold – we said yes please straight away.”

The first major event under the new ownership will be a carol service among the ruins of the priory on December 1.

The trust’s longer-term aims include building a new bridge from the nearby Sustrans track to the priory site, to bypass a footpath that runs over an aging brick culvert, and applying for permission from Historic England for an archaeological dig in the monument’s grounds programmed. .

The Rosminian Order confirmed the sale with the BBC.