Chapter House Of Hinton Priory

Chapter House of Hinton Priory

This Grade I listed building is the chapter house of the former Carthusian Hinton Priory, founded in 1232 as the charterhouse of Locus Dei at Hinton by Ela Longespee, widow of William Longespee. The structure was formerly listed as a chapel.

The building is constructed of rubble with freestone dressings and ashlar gables, with stone slate roofs. It consists of a central square tower of two storeys with attics, gabled on all four sides. An east end projects at two storeys, with the upper storey forming part of a later dovecote. To the north, a wing projects towards the site of the former church, incorporating an east-west corridor (now blocked) and a passage to the church with a stair tower.

The east elevation has three bays divided by flat ashlar buttresses that are chamfered on the lower part. The east end, at a lower level, features a small plain lancet window in a chamfered surround under a hoodmould with carved head stops. Two tall lancets light the upper parts of the western bays, similarly treated with chamfered surrounds and hoodmoulds. A stringcourse at first-floor level has projecting corbels beneath. A chamfered and arched doorway projects at the west.

The west elevation has flat end buttresses with offsets and plain lancet windows like those on the south elevation, with a moulded pointed doorway. The north elevation's main feature is a tall, thin central tower housing a stair and lobby rooms, gabled on the north side with a large portion of the springer for a vault remaining. A trefoil-headed piscina and arched doorway to the passage stand to the right. The west side has a lean-to over the passage with a single plain lancet window at the north end; above are another lancet and a blocked square window. At the east side a two-storey lean-to contains a blocked corridor with arched east entrance; above is a two-light window with cusped four-centred heads.

The chapter house interior comprises three bays with quadripartite vaults. The western bays have chamfered ribs while the eastern bay has fillet-moulded ribs. Two circular corbels at the east include one on a twisted and fluted stem and another on a fluted stem with stiff-leaf ornament. One moulded circular corbel on a short fillet-moulded shaft remains at the west, along with remains of a cill band. A trefoil-headed piscina with carved spandrels and scalloped bowls stands under a fragmentary hoodmould. A square aumbry is located on the north wall. Hoodmoulds treat the interior of the north and south windows, and the east window has a roll-moulded surround. A passage to the north contains a segmental-headed doorway to a stone newel stair at the north-west and a blocked four-centred-headed doorway.

The first floor comprises a library of two bays with quadripartite vaults and chamfered ribs on moulded circular corbels with fluted and twisted stems, along with two other small rooms. The dovecote above contains sawn ashlar nesting boxes.

The building is scheduled as an Ancient Monument (Avon County No. 107).