Priory Farmhouse

Priory Farmhouse is a farmhouse that likely dates from the 16th and 17th centuries, possibly incorporating some medieval elements, with alterations made in the 19th and 20th centuries. The building is constructed from part-coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings and has a Stonesfield-slate roof with ashlar stacks. It is designed in an L shape and has two storeys plus an attic.

The front of the main range features three windows, with original two-light stone-mullioned windows in the middle bay, while the outer bays and the short wing projecting from the left contain 19th-century mullioned windows. The entrance, located between the first and second bays, has a stone porch from the 19th or 20th century, and there is a second rubble porch at the angle of the ranges. The wing, likely from the 17th century, is made of squared rubble with a chamfered plinth. The steep-pitched roof has two ridge stacks over the main range and a gable stack on the wing, all featuring moulded caps and plinths. The sides and rear of the building have additional renewed mullioned windows, all with lattice glazing.

Inside, the main range has heavy chamfered cross beams, morticed for wide joists, which are probably late medieval and may be original to the building. There is an open fireplace with a cambered bressumer, and a Tudor-arched stone fireplace with recessed spandrels and ogee mouldings, which are also found in a similar fireplace in another chamber. The wing features intersecting chamfered beams and an open fireplace, with a butt-purlin roof that has cambered collars. The house is situated on the site of Cold Norton Priory, a small Augustinian foundation, with the ruins depicted in a Buck engraving from 1729. Priory Farm was part of the Civil Parish of Over Norton until 1985.