The Priory

The Priory is a house dating from the early to mid 18th century, with early 19th-century alterations and additions that include a 13th or 14th-century undercroft. It is constructed of stuccoed brick with timber-framed internal walls and features a hipped roof. The building has an L-shaped plan, with a 19th-century addition to the front right. It stands three storeys tall and has a three-window range. The central entrance is round-headed and features steps with parapets that end in panelled piers. The porch is supported by Doric columns and has paired panelled doors. The windows are 4-pane horned sashes, with a canted bay window and a tripartite window on the ground floor, and smaller windows on the second floor. There are return lateral stacks, and the left return has a brick stair leading to the first floor. The rear has segmental-headed windows.

Inside, some of the outer walls are exposed coursed squared stone, and the internal walls are square-framed with 18th-century brick infill. There is a 19th-century open-well stair with column-on-vase balusters, as well as remnants of an earlier stair with moulded handrails and square newels on the first floor. The former right return displays exposed 18th-century Flemish bond brick and ashlar wedge lintels with keys to former windows. The cellar consists of two bays and two half-bays of a medieval rib-vaulted undercroft, featuring single-chamfered ribs on corbels and an octagonal pier now set in later masonry, along with signs of blocked openings. The rear cellar has chamfered beams and joists, and a large fireplace with a cambered lintel. The cellar beneath the 19th-century addition reveals a stone plinth and the base of a wall. This house was built on the site of the Augustinian Priory of SS Mary and Wulfad, which was founded around 1125.