Large yard surrounding a place of God (9)
I believe the answer is:
monastery
'of god' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'large yard surrounding a' is the wordplay.
'large' becomes 'monster' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'yard' becomes 'y' (abbreviation).
'surrounding' indicates putting letters inside.
'monster'+'y'='monstery'
'monstery' placed around 'a' is 'MONASTERY'.
'place' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for monastery that I've seen before include "One vows to stay here" , "Where brothers gather" , "brother's house" , "Religious house" , "Community of monks" .)