Priests House

This is a house, originally an open hall, dating back to the early 15th century, with a jettied cross wing added in the 16th century. Around the early 16th century, a floor and chimney stack were inserted into the open hall. The house is timber-framed, rendered, and has a mix of Collyweston Stone slates and plain tiles covering the roof. The hall section has a steeply pitched tiled roof with a ridge stack made of clunch and brick. It is one storey high with attics. The windows are modern replacements, but the doorways are in the positions of the original cross-passage entries.

The jettied parlour range, constructed in the mid to late 16th century, is timber-framed and rendered, with the roof retaining some original Collyweston Stone slates at the front and tiles at the rear. It is two storeys high, and features moulded jetty joists, with two of the original four jetty brackets still in place. The front of the parlour range has two 20th-century windows replacing what were likely late 18th or early 19th century flush-frame sashes at both the ground and first floors, and one doorway of a similar period on the left-hand side. A blocked doorway on the right-hand side is reset with an unmoulded four-centred arch within a square head. Mid-19th century cast-iron railings by Wilkinson of Ely are positioned at the front, incorporating panels with grotesque mask heads.

Inside the hall range, the original cross-passage entries remain, with opposing doorways, and two doorways leading to the buttery and pantry. One of these service doorways has been remodelled, but the other has been exposed to reveal a four-centred arch with a square head. The spandrels of the arch are carved; one displays foliate ornament, and the other shows a shield of arms and a bearded male head with a coronet, likely representing a king. The early 16th-century floor is noteworthy, with hollow and roll moulding to the main beams and the joists. The inglenook hearth, contemporary with the ceiling, is constructed of clunch. The roof was originally built with crown-post construction, but only one end of the tie beam to the display truss remains. It displays a double ogee moulding. A closed truss, featuring close studding and curved downward bracing from a central post to the middle rail, exists between the hall and service bay. The interior of the parlour range was remodelled in the late 18th century, with the exception of the first floor, where the timber framing is visible. The posts have jowled heads, and the main beams are stop-chamfered with run-out stops.