Little Priory

Little Priory

The 18th-century range is built of red brick laid in Flemish bond. The 19th-century addition is of red and yellow brick, generally in Flemish bond with some stretcher bond patching. Both ranges have gabled roofs covered in pantiles.

The house is T-shaped in plan. The 18th-century range has a lobby-entrance plan adjoined at the rear (south) by the 19th-century addition. The stable has an L-shaped plan.

The façade of the 18th-century range faces the churchyard to the north. It features a rebuilt, off-centre stack and coped parapets to the gables of the steep roof. The main entrance is aligned with the stack; the panelled entrance door dates from the late 18th or early 19th century with contemporary door furniture, though the door case is early 21st century. To the left on the ground floor are two oversized window openings beneath square, segmented, rubbed brick heads. To the right is a window with no decorative surround. Three square windows on the first floor occupy their original openings and are matched by three dormers beneath gablets above. A modillion cornice runs at the eaves. To the rear is the lower, two-storey mid-19th-century addition comprising a parallel block to the 18th-century house and a rear wing which may incorporate an earlier structure. The rear wall of the earlier phase has been mostly breached by the 19th-century range, but at the south-west corner it remains complete, with a partially blocked door opening and a six-over-six sash window with moulded surround, probably late 18th or early 19th century. The wing contains 21st-century window openings and fenestration, but the mid-19th-century window openings of the rear and east elevations have shallow-arched, segmental heads and plain sills. The windows are two-over-two sashes with horns. To the west of the wing is a 21st-century conservatory.

Internally, in the 18th-century range, the lobby-entrance plan survives, though most of the rear wall has been removed or remodelled. On the ground floor, the principal rooms on either side of the stack have lightly-moulded, transverse bridging beams, late-19th-century doors, one early and one late-19th-century fireplace, and cornices or picture rails. The six-over-six sash window in the rear wall of the right-hand room has a reeded surround. Some cupboards with plank doors and original strap hinges remain. On the first floor of the 18th-century range, accessed via a late-19th-century staircase in the 19th-century addition, there are encased transverse bridging beams, exposed tie beams and wall plates, and some original wide floorboards. Plank doors with original hinges and latches, one late-19th-century fireplace and a late-18th-century register grate are present. In the attic, there are wide floorboards and an 18th-century plank door with an original latch. The roof comprises principal rafters, pegged and jointed, with reset and replaced collars and staggered purlins. The original weatherboard-clad partitions remain and the dormer configuration is original.

The interior of the 19th-century range contains few fixtures and fittings of that date. The rear wing has exposed axial bridging beams on the ground floor and a restored king-post roof at the first floor with exposed purlins.

The stable is a single-storey structure built of red and yellow brick with occasional flint panels, and has pantile covering to the gabled roof. The fenestration and a porch to the east are 21st century in date. Internally, the original layout is retained, including a groom's room with open brick fireplace and two stalls with an interconnecting loft hatch.