Langley Priory And Attached Railings

Langley Priory and Attached Railings

A house built on the site of a Benedictine nunnery, dating from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, with the central range rebuilt and said to be dated 1690. The building was extended to the north in the 1860s, and its interior was substantially altered in the late 19th century. It is constructed in dressed stone, with the centre range fronted in ashlar to the west. The east front is mostly brick, with late 17th-century chequer brick at the north end. The roofs are plain tile with brick chimneys rebuilt in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The structure is two storeys with an attic, arranged around three sides of a courtyard. Wings surround the court on the south, east, and north sides, with iron railings across the open west side. The central wing is of six bays and features a moulded stone string at sill level of the ground floor windows, a 19th to 20th-century wooden eaves cornice with brackets, and a hipped roof. The windows are of cross type with square stone mullions and transoms, raised stone architrave surrounds, and leaded glazing. Five gabled dormers of 19th to 20th-century date contain paired leaded casements. At the centre is a 20th-century door within a bolection moulded stone surround with pulvinated frieze and cornice. To either side, between the outer bays, are narrow blocked doorways with moulded architrave frames, pulvinated friezes, and cornices.

The side wings are each approximately three bays wide with wide gables to the centre. The gables have stone coping and ball finials. The right wing retains original windows with chamfered stone mullions; the ground floor has three two-light windows, the first floor has three three-light windows, and the attic has a three-light window in the central gable. All ground floor windows and those to the upper centre have cyma recta cornices with leaded glazing. There are three doorways: the left has chamfered stone jambs and an altered head, while those to the right have slight four-centred heads. The left doors are boarded and studded. The gable end of the right wing also has three-light mullion windows and a chamfered doorway.

The left wing retains its original attic window matching that opposite, though other fenestration has been partly altered. Three first floor windows retain chamfered stone surrounds and cornices but now have three-light leaded windows in wooden frames. An additional cross window has been inserted to the right with a 19th to 20th-century gabled dormer above. The ground floor windows are irregular and have been restored. A central 20th-century door is present. The gable end retains an original two-light attic window and features a 19th to 20th-century wooden bellcote. Railings across the front of the court include an arch and lantern over the central gate.

The east front, facing the garden, has a stone gable end to the left with seven-light stone mullion and transom windows to the main floors and a three-light attic window. The central range is of brick with a band course and altered cornice, featuring 19th-century wooden cross casements. A 19th-century canted bay window is positioned to the right of centre. The block at the right end is of chequer brick with cogged strings and has a coped gable with ball finials. Nineteenth-century sash windows of two and three panes are present. A lead rainwater head at the centre of this section is dated 1690.

The interior contains windows in the north wing with re-set pieces of stained glass, some of 15th-century date, one piece dated 1617, and one armorial panel. An upper room at the east end of this wing houses tapestries, probably of 17th-century Flemish origin and not originally made for the room. Two types are present: one with bold classical figures, the other with biblical scenes set in wooden frameworks. This room also contains a bolection-moulded stone fireplace with moulded cornice and Delft tiles. The main staircase is in late 17th-century style with turned and twisted balusters, pulvinated string, ramped moulded handrail, and panelled dado. A short flight of steps between north-east rooms has splat balusters.

The priory was originally founded by William Pantulf and his wife Burgia. At the Dissolution it was acquired by the Greys and was sold to the Cheslyn family in 1686.