House Adjacent To Abbey Gatehouse

The house adjacent to the Abbey Gatehouse, formerly known as a monastic outer court building and possibly an almonry, dates back to the 13th century. It was heightened in the late 16th century and features a mid-18th century outshut at the rear. The structure is built of rubble with large squared blocks on the second floor arranged in irregular courses, topped with a stone slate roof.

The south elevation has three storeys and three narrow bays. The first bay contains a six-panel door with a two-pane overlight, while the second bay features paired late 19th century sash windows. The third bay has a sash window under an earlier keyed segmental arch. The first floor has small four-pane sashes, with the central window set in a former doorway that has a cut-back shouldered arch. The second floor is highlighted by a three-light mullioned window with a hoodmould, and a small window to the right, alongside a pent-roofed garderobe projection on the left. The roof is low-pitched with a coped left gable and a stone stack on the rear slope.

On the rear elevation, there are blocked doorways, and the windows include a nine-pane sash in a stone surround. Inside, the first-floor room above the Post Office features a 15th century fireplace with a chamfered monolithic lintel supported by shaped corbels, which still shows remnants of a painted black-letter inscription. A blocked door on the west side has chamfered jambs and a cut-back shouldered head. The second-floor room displays a chamfered doorway leading to a former garderobe, now a cupboard, and contains two 15th or 16th century roof trusses with chamfered cambered ties that support a heavy square-set ridge and trenched purlins.