Flanesford Priory

Flanesford Priory is a former refectory of an Augustinian Priory, founded in 1346, and is now used as a barn. The building is constructed from squared sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings and features a 20th-century pantiled roof. The main range is aligned east to west, with a lower projecting wing to the south-east, which is a 19th-century addition to the west gable end of the main range.

The refectory range was originally two storeys, but the floor has been removed, and a threshing floor with cambered stone lintels to the doorways was inserted during the mid-19th century, although the eastern end still retains its floor. On the south elevation, the roof has two ridge levels and features three pointed arched windows, which were originally designed with two cusped lights and a quatrefoil, though the central mullion of each is now missing. These windows are located to the east of an inserted barn door, with traces of a fourth window above the door. The ground floor includes two square-headed windows, one of which retains a stone mullion.

The north wall (rear) shows weathering and a row of corbels that suggest the position of a former cloister. The south-east wing is two storeys high and has a shouldered arched doorway on the west side that leads to a staircase, which is lit by two small windows and a further quatrefoiled opening. The south gable features two square-headed windows and an additional blocked opening on the ground floor.

A two-storey 19th-century addition to the west is included for its group value. The arrangement of the cowshed and barn at the rear of the refectory likely indicates the position of the former cloister. The priory was dedicated to St John the Baptist and was a small house of canons-regular of St Augustine, founded by Sir Richard Talbot.