St Mary'S Priory House The Priory

WITNEY COGGES SP3609 8/90 The Priory and St. Mary's Priory House GV II*

Priory, now vicarage. c.1150-80; mainly c.1230-50; remodelled and reduced in size c. 1600-20. Uncoursed limestone rubble; gabled stone slate roof; rear lateral stack of stone finished in brick. Surviving C13 hall and services remodelled as 2-unit plan with central passage in early C17. 2 storeys; two blocks, including former hall to right, of 4-window range. Mid C13 pointed lancet to right; hood moulds over narrow mid C17 sashes set in moulded stone architraves; C20 door set in C17 pointed wall: hood moulds over mid Cl9 three-light window above early C17 cavetto-moulded stone-mullioned 4-light window; C13 windows with dressed stone surrounds, one blocked. Interior: C13 hall to right has pointed chamfered rere-arches of former windows to front and right; mid C13 common-rafter roof of very slight scantling with open notched-lap joints to braced collars. Jowled post and some timber framing remains of C13 timber screen to left of hall and flanking service passage; rear of passage has hollow-chamfered jambs of C13 door, with half-pyramid stops; 2 doorways with chamfered stone jambs to rear. C17 stop-chamfered beams, and moulded stone fireplace with spit rack to left. St. Mary's Priory House to right: built 1859. Squared and coursed linestone; gabled stone slate roof; stone end stacks. Double-depth plan. Elizabethan style. 2 storeys and attic; triple-gabled 3-window range. Canted bay window with sashes to right. Hood moulds over 2-light stone-mullioned windows with narrow mid C19 sashes. Entry to rear, Interior not inspected. History: The Priory was founded in 1103 as a daughter house of Fecamp Abbey. The roof is similar to the C13 roof of poles and small timbers at The Old Rectory, Standlake (q.v.). (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, p.551; J. Blair and J.M. Steane, "Investigations at Cogges, Oxfordshire, 1978-81: The Priory and Parish Church", 0xanensia, Vol.47, (1982)).

Listing NGR: SP3608709650