Outbuildings To Watton Abbey

These buildings, now outbuildings associated with Watton Abbey, likely date from the late 16th century, with later additions and alterations. They are constructed of pinkish-yellow brick with moulded brick and ashlar dressings, some ashlar infill, and remnants of a plain tile roof. The building is two storeys high, with the upper storey slightly recessed, forming 11 bays. An ashlar plinth runs along the base.

Entrances are located in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth, and between the tenth and eleventh bays. The entrances to the fourth, fifth, and sixth bays are 20th-century additions: a cart opening with a basket arch and plank door in the fourth bay; a stable opening under a cambered head in the fifth; and a cart entrance with a timber lintel and plank door in the sixth. The original entrances are partially infilled, with those in the third, seventh, and ninth bays featuring Tudor arches with chamfered surrounds, rubbed brick hoodmoulds with label stops, and—in the ninth bay—an inserted pointed plank door. Between the tenth and eleventh bays is a basket-arched opening with a roll-moulded ashlar surround, a chamfered brick surround, and a rubbed brick hoodmould with label stops.

Window openings are found in the first, second, eighth, and tenth bays, mainly showing remains of square wooden casements with chamfered brick inner jambs, chamfered ashlar sills and jambs to two-thirds height, and chamfered brick heads under rubbed brick hoodmoulds with label stops. The eleventh bay retains the remains of an original window featuring two ogeed lights with an eroded chamfered ashlar mullion within a brick and ashlar surround and a hoodmould. A rubbed brick band runs along the first floor. The first-floor openings are of a similar design with rubbed brick sills (some now cemented over), chamfered brick jambs and lintels, and rubbed brick hoodmoulds, some containing remains of 20th-century casement windows. A stepped eaves band is present. An ashlar kneeler and brick copings remain on the left gable, along with the remains of a central front stack. Parts of the roof are still visible on the left. The left gable end has a 20th-century opening and a pitching door under a cambered arch above, with tumbled-in brickwork.

At the rear, remains of a blocked opening are visible in the eleventh bay. There’s an inserted off-centre entrance. A pointed arch, now mostly blocked, spans a stream in the tenth bay, featuring a chamfered hoodmould. The stream emerges to the front from a round arch with a chamfered ashlar surround within a roughly 2-metre-wide brick wall. The tunnel under the stream has chamfered ribs.

These outbuildings are part of the priory founded around 1150 for the Gilbertian order.