The Priory Including Adjoining Wall on the North East 6582 6435

The Priory is a large country house, largely dating from the 16th century with significant extensions in 1648 and alterations in the 18th century. The construction is primarily brick, though the older part features timber framing with brick infill. The roofs are gabled, with one half-hipped, and covered in old tile. The house has an irregular plan, with some sections two stories high and others two stories with attics. Prominent 17th-century chimneys are a feature, with offset heads and stepped bases on the front, and three large chimneys on the rear.

The south-east front is triple-gabled, featuring a brick plinth, moulded brick string courses, dentilled eaves, and a cornice that extends over the gables. A two-story central porch displays matching brick detailing, a glazed door within a brick doorcase topped with a broken segmental pediment and a date panel from 1648. Attic casements are situated in each gable. The front features sash windows with glazing bars; three bays flank the porch, and to the right are three upper bays over two lower bays. The north-east front comprises a long wing with seven bays of sash windows with glazing bars on the first floor, and irregular casements below, with a large 17th-century chimney between the first and second bays from the right. An approximately 2-meter high and 40-meter long brick wall, dating from the 17th century and having a deep weathered top, runs at a right angle to and adjoins this front. The north-west front, the oldest part of the house, is partly timber framed and has two stories and two stories with attics. The fenestration is very irregular, comprised of sash windows with glazing bars, some leaded casements, and three 16th-century diamond mullioned windows on the ground floor.

Inside, the hall and dining room are panelled in a good early 18th-century style, and divided by Doric pilasters. Early 16th-century panelling is found on the first-floor landing and in the alcove above the entrance porch. A mid-17th-century open well staircase features turned balusters, a moulded handrail, and square stop-chamfered newels. The principal bedrooms on the first floor contain fine mid-17th-century chimney pieces with pilasters, Ionic capitals, garlands, friezes, and overmantels with volutes dropping from halved Ionic pilasters. A brick wall, approximately 2 metres high and 40 metres long, runs along the north-east front.