The Priory

The Priory is a detached house resulting from an early 19th century remodelling and enlargement of a 17th century building. The original sections are built of plastered cob, while the remainder is rendered brick with a lath and plaster outer wall to the first floor. The roofs are gabled and covered in slate, with two gables for each range, and external end stacks, including one to the rear wing, all with brick shafts. The house probably began as a two-room, through-passage plan with a rear wing, possibly a barn, and a front range was added in the 19th century, creating a double-depth plan. The south-facing front has a symmetrical arrangement of three windows. The first floor is decorated with variously shaped tiles arranged in formal patterns, and features tripartite 4:12:4 pane hornless sash windows flanking a smaller central 16-pane hornless sash window. The ground floor has a blocked central doorway, with glazed garden doors to either side, each with a traceried semi-circular top light flanked by narrower 4-pane pointed lights, recessed under a depressed arch. The rear of the main range incorporates two 2-light casement windows to the first floor and another to the ground floor (originally comprising four lights), to the left of a lean-to glazed porch set in the angle between the main range and the rear wing, which has a latticed, pointed door. Inside, some features remain from the 17th century house, including a deeply chamfered cross ceiling beam with run-out stops to the left of the entrance hall, and some late 17th or early 18th century fielded panel doors, one with H hinges. Other joinery is from the early 19th century, including a fireplace with a reeded surround. A photograph of the house taken around 1890 is included in “Woodbury, A View from the Beacon” by Ursula W Brighouse (1981), page 179.