Canon Cottage The Old Canonry

This is a house, originally two houses, dating to circa 1285 and the 15th century. The structure is timber framed on a flint base, with exposed timber framing and plaster infill. It has a plain tiled roof. The right-hand side is two storeys high, while the left-hand side is one storey and an attic, set on a flint base with a jetty supported by a dragon post and brackets to the right, returning to the right-hand side elevation. There is pierced and enriched bargeboarding to the right-hand wing, and two hipped dormers with stacks to the rear right. A three-light mullioned and transomed window is on the first floor; the ground floor features three mullioned windows and an eight-light mullioned and transomed shallow oriel to the right. Adjacent to the oriel is a 15th-century door consisting of seven glazed, transomed lights with three base panels within a four-centred arched surround, that was uncovered in 1893 upon the removal of plaster. A 20th-century boarded door is in an arched doorway of two doorways at the end of the left-hand side. There is an outshot at the end left. Basement openings are located centrally. The right return has two wooden casements on each floor, and a rib and stud door within a four-centred arched surround. The interior of the lower left-hand wing appears to be a well-preserved example of the row of canons' houses for Wingham College, which was founded by Archbishop Peckham in 1282, and built from 1283 onwards. The undercroft, jetty, and sans-purlin roof date to that period. The two-storey range, despite being built upon a 13th-century undercroft, is late 15th century, with contemporary panelling and a fine crown-post roof. Historical and architectural details can be found in A. Hussey, Chronicles of Wingham, 1896; E.W. Parkin, Archaeological Cantiana, XCIII, 1977; and an unpublished thesis for Canterbury University by Dr. David.