Hirst Priory

Hirst Priory is a small country house of early to mid 18th-century date, built for Richard Taylor or Jonathan Stovin, with substantial later alterations and additions. The house was remodelled in the later 18th century for Cornelius Stovin, and underwent major changes in the mid 19th century for George Lister, including the addition of a new west wing, remodelling of the north and south fronts, and the addition of a new balcony to the south.

The house is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond with tuck pointing to some 19th-century sections, combined with stucco and ashlar dressings. The south terrace is of ashlar. The 18th-century section is roofed with Westmorland slates, while the west wing uses Welsh slates. The 18th-century section has a double-depth plan, altered in the 19th century to a 2-room south front with an entrance hall to the north. The west wing has a double-pile plan with a 2-room south front. The building is of 2 storeys with a basement and an attic to the earlier section.

The principal south garden front comprises 8 bays in total. The earlier section consists of 2:1:2 bays with a central bay breaking forward, and a 3-bay wing set back to the left with the first 2 bays breaking forward. The basement has ashlar capping forming a plinth, with moulded quoins to the angles and advanced bays. The basement windows include 4- and 6-pane sashes to the earlier section, the wing has a pair of unequal 9-pane sashes to the first 2 bays and a tripartite sash with glazing bars to the third bay, all beneath cambered brick arches. A terrace to the ground floor of the earlier section is carried on arcades of 3 chamfered and keyed round arches, flanking a central stone staircase with a wrought-iron balustrade of alternating panels and plain rails carrying a wreathed handrail. The ashlar balustrade to the terrace features a moulded plinth, bulbous balusters, panelled square piers and a corniced top rail. The ground floor of the earlier section has an inserted full-length 8-pane sash to the central bay flanked by a pair of similar sashes to the left, and a tripartite sash to the right with pilasters and consoles flanking the central light. The wing has a pair of 12-pane sashes to the first 2 bays and a similar tripartite sash with pilasters and consoles to the third bay. The first floor has an ashlar sill band with 4-pane sashes to the earlier section and 12-pane sashes to the wing. All sashes are slightly recessed with sills beneath rubbed-brick cambered arches, except the tripartite sashes which are beneath flat arches. A deep moulded ashlar cornice and blocking course run across the front. The earlier section has a tall hipped roof with three 19th-century round-headed full dormers with 4-pane sashes in scrolled shouldered archivolts. The wing has a lower roof hipped to the left. A large side wall stack to the right features a recessed round-arched panel to the side, with an ashlar cornice and blocking course. Side wall, roof and ridge stacks to the earlier section and wing all have string courses and cornices, with square chimney pots throughout.

The north entrance front comprises 10 irregular bays: the earlier section of 2:1:2 bays, and a 5-bay wing set forward to the right, with a narrow 2-bay section to the left and a 3-bay section breaking forward to the right. The basement plinth, quoins, first-floor sill band, 12-pane sashes, cornice and blocking course are similar to the south front. The earlier section has a main central entrance with a flight of stone steps to a large doorcase with an architrave, panelled pilasters, pulvinated frieze and carved consoles carrying a moulded cornice and hood. The door is a half-glazed 2-fold panelled door beneath a moulded lintel with a plain overlight in the reveal. A first-floor sash above sits in an eared architrave with a projecting sill and cornice. A pair of round-headed dormers to the earlier section is similar to those on the south front but with glazing bars. The east and west sides, both of 2 bays, have a first-floor sill band with 12-pane sashes to the west and 4-pane sashes to the east.

The interior preserves mid 18th- to early 19th-century details in the earlier section, including a secondary staircase with a ramped corniced handrail, slender bulb-on-urn balusters with round knops, panelled newel posts and profiled cheek-pieces. Chimney-pieces to the first-floor bedrooms include one with an eared architrave, plain frieze and dentilled cornice, and another with panelled pilasters and fluted frieze with garlands and paterae. The entrance hall has a chimney-piece with an ornate composition frieze and cornice, and the first floor has moulded cornices throughout. Mid 19th-century details include the main staircase, chimney-pieces and cornices to the main ground-floor rooms.

The house stands in a partly moated enclosure, on or near the site of an Augustinian cell of Nostrell Priory, founded in the early 12th century and dissolved around 1540.