The Priory

The Priory is a large house with a complex history, dating back to the 15th century and incorporating elements from the 16th, 18th, and late 19th centuries. The east wing appears to be the oldest part, originally an open-roofed hall, now a two-story north-south range. The southern portion of this wing has been restored and integrated into the main house. It is constructed of malmstone, with a mix of flint and rough rendering, and has stone dressings. A diagonal stepped buttress is visible at the southeast corner, and a fragment of a buttress exists at the northwest corner. Windows are characterized by single and coupled lights with cusped heads, set within rectangular frames with indented spandrels, stone jambs, and mullions, featuring diagonal leaded lights under the roof. There are doorways with pointed arches at the north end and on the west side. The late 19th-century restoration includes a pointed arched doorway on the south side, alongside a three-light wooden window positioned above a three-light mullioned and transomed window with pointed lights. An attached chimney breast has later stone dressings and coupled brick octagonal Tudor-style flues; another stack is missing its top.

A two-story Tudor brick porch projects at the west end and is linked to the east wing by a rear portion of the 18th-century work. The front of the porch features a gable above a restored brick oriel, a recessed panel, and a four-centered arch within a rectangular frame. Octagonal buttresses with small pointed tops and moldings are located at the two outer corners, along with a high plinth. The red tile roof extends to the later section.

The south front, dating to the 18th century, presents a symmetrical facade of two stories and an attic, with seven windows. It has a slate roof, large tapering chimney stacks on the end gables, four flat-roofed dormers with casements, simple moulded cornices, a fully-moulded modillion cornice returned at the ends, and red brick walling in a Flemish bond pattern with rubbed flat arches and a narrow first-floor band. Sashes are set in exposed frames, and a central French door is topped with a semicircular fanlight.

A late 19th-century block is situated on the southeast corner, featuring tile-hung upper walls, a two-story bay with coupled sashes and narrow side windows, and a projecting bay on brackets with a hipped roof above a ground-floor sash window on the east elevation. The rear of the main block has a three-gabled form, with more modern extensions projecting northwards from two of the gables. One extension, with a hipped roof, links to the east wing, while the other is a short gabled wing replacing a larger Victorian wing that was recently demolished.