Portbury Priory Portbury Priory And Boundary Wall To South East

The remains of a C14 to C15 Priory, now a house, with early C19 restoration and alterations. It is constructed of rubble with freestone dressings and quoins, featuring a slate roof with coped raised verges. The layout is likely an L-shape, suggesting a hall with a tower to the south.

The east elevation shows a two-story portion, possibly the hall, clad in ashlar with an embattled parapet. A diagonal buttress with offsets and a pinnacle is at the right end, alongside a lateral stack with single cusped-head windows to each side, the right one being of late mediaeval design. A central buttress and string course above the ground floor is also present. The north end features a plank door with a chamfered surround and a 4-centred head. A four-stage tower stands at the south end, with rubble upper sections and ashlar lower sections. It incorporates a doorway with a chamfered surround and 4-centred head, a blocked window on the first stage, and a moulded ashlar string course.

A late mediaeval boundary wall, approximately 30 yards long and 12-15 feet high, extends from the south-east corner of the tower and is constructed of rubble with some plaster and corbels at the east end. The south wing, accessible from Caswell Lane, is three stories high, containing blocked openings and a 4-light casement window with a king mullion and ovolo moulded mullions and surrounds. A C20 2-light casement window is present on the second floor. The west gable end features a C20 3-light casement window on the ground floor and a slit window with a chamfered surround on the third floor.

The south elevation of the tower exhibits slit vents in chamfered surrounds on the ground floor, a 2-light cross window on the second stage with hollow moulded mullions, surrounds, and cusped heads to the lights, and other blocked windows above. The rear elevation of the east range displays two single-light windows on the ground floor, one with a coarsely chamfered surround, and two 2-light cross windows on the first floor with hollow moulded mullions, surrounds, and restored trefoil heads. A projecting square stairtower with quoins and two blocked slit vents in chamfered surrounds is located towards the left. The north gable end has a 3-light window with cusped tracery on the first floor, a 2-light casement on the second, and two blocked doorways with chamfered surrounds and 4-centred heads to the right, along with a projecting section of ruined wall and part of a blocked door. The Caswell Lane range exhibits two single-light windows in chamfered surrounds on the first floor and a blocked window on the ground floor.

The interior of the east range includes a vaulted undercroft and an early C19 moulded pointed arch at the south end of the main room. Remains of a stair are found at the north-west corner. The south range contains a square-headed, chamfered fireplace on the ground floor.