The Ancient Priors (Minters Restaurant A Louis Coiffeur)

The Ancient Priors, also known as Minters Restaurant and A Louis Coiffeur, is a timber-framed hall-house dating from around 1450, with an L-wing added around 1530 and a modern brick wing added later. It was restored in 1927. The building has two storeys and features a Horsham slab roof, consisting of four bays. The front elevation showcases projecting first floors supported by brackets, with gables above that include decorative curved braces. The front is mainly close-studded, while the side elevation displays square framing. Although modern casement windows have been installed, original window openings have been blocked. The building has later shopfronts, and the doorcase features a flat arch with a shield in the spandrels, which includes a crown of antique shape, two fleur de lys seen sideways, a third in the middle, and a leaf between.

Inside, the hall runs north to south and is 23 feet long, divided into two bays of about 10 feet each. It has an open timber roof with a cambered tie beam, an arch-braced collar beam, moulded wall plates, and curved mid-braces. A chimney and floor were added in the 16th century, and there are two 16th-century stone fireplaces located in the ground and first-floor rooms at the north end. A two-storey wing, likely a kitchen wing from around 1530, projects eastward from the south end. There are two staircases featuring a heavy Jacobean rail with turned balusters. The Ancient Priors is a complete and well-preserved example of a 15th-century hall-house, which may have served as the Pre-Reformation Priest's house and is reputed to have connections with smuggling.