Guest House Of Cerne Abbey

The Guest House of Cerne Abbey is a Grade I listed building, dating from the late 15th century, likely constructed under Abbot John Vanne between 1458 and 1470. The structure features knapped flint and dressed stone walls made of limestone, with predominantly Ham stone quoins. The roof is covered with renewed stone slates from Cricklade in Gloucestershire, dating from the 20th century, and there is a stone stack topped with 20th-century brick capping. A pineapple-type finial adorns the apex of the west gable.

This two-storey building has four windows on its north elevation. It includes two 15th-century windows with two trefoiled lights set in square heads, and a window from around 1500 located in an earlier door-blocking, featuring two cinquefoil lights with bowtell-mouldings in a square head, a casement moulding, and a label with returned stops. To the east of this window, remnants of a 15th-century doorway can be seen, including the jamb and part of the two-centred head. There are also remains of three 15th-century windows further east.

In the middle of the north wall, there is a restored and reset 15th-century oriel window that is canted, featuring windows with two trefoiled and transomed lights on each face, supported by standards at the angles. The oriel rests on moulded corbelling. Flanking the oriel are two windows that were originally similar to one face of the oriel. A stable door leads into a former stable-conversion towards the east end.

On the west gable, there is an early 16th-century doorway with moulded jambs, step-stopped, and a four-centred arch in a square head, embellished with foliage spandrels and a label, likely created when the north doorway was blocked. The south wall of the building originally extended further east.

Inside, the main fireplace in the west room features dressed stone jambs and a continuous wood lintel that extends over a blocked door passage. There is also a blocked fireplace in a former upper room and a small fireplace in the south wall of the east room on the first floor, which has a depressed-arch head. A probable fireplace is located in the present east gable wall, with blockings and fissures visible. The ceiling beam in the west end room displays hollows and bowtells from the early 16th century, and the building has a cruck roof construction. The Guest House is also designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument in Dorset.