St Mary'S Chambers

St Mary's Chambers, formerly known as No.5 Priests' Hall, is a house located on Breadmarket Street in Lichfield. It dates from around 1600 or earlier, with alterations made around 1760. The building is constructed of brick with a timber-framed rear wing and features a tile roof with a brick end stack. It is designed in a Georgian style and consists of three storeys with a basement, presenting a two-window range.

The top of the building is adorned with a modillioned cornice. The central entrance is elliptical-headed and features an architrave and a radial-bar fanlight above a half-glazed door, with iron handrails leading up to the steps. To the left of the entrance, there is a door with a 19th-century stop-chamfered lintel above a four-flush-panel door.

On the ground floor, there is a late 19th-century canted oriel window to the left, which has a top entablature and small-paned upper lights, along with shuttered access to the basement below. To the right, a bowed oriel window features moulded pilaster strips, a fluted frieze to the entablature, and small-paned glazing with an opening pane, leading to paired bowed glazed doors that access the basement.

The first floor showcases Venetian windows with tripartite sashes that include glazing bars, all set within simple architraves. The second floor has windows with six-pane sashes in simple architraves, with an inserted window on the left end that matches the others.

The rear of the building features a gabled timber-framed wing with square framing, alongside a longer brick wing. Inside, the property reveals exposed timber-framing and chamfered beams, as well as an open well staircase with simply turned balusters, square newels topped with ball finials, and moulded handrails, which are said to be made of cherrywood. The basement contains flat joists and early brickwork.

Historically, this building served as the home for the priests of the Guild of St Mary and St John until its dissolution. It is also notable as the birthplace of Elias Ashmole, who lived from 1617 to 1692 and founded the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.