The Priory

The Priory is a house located on Vicarage Street in Barnstaple, originally known as The Vicarage. It is believed to date from the 16th or 17th century but underwent significant refurbishment in the 1840s. The building features smooth plastering and a slate roof with gabled ends. The front range has end stacks, with the left-hand stack showcasing 19th-century diagonally-set shafts, corbelled cornices, and old pots. There are also three rear lateral stacks with old pots and cast-iron rainwater goods. The single-depth front range likely represents the original rear block aligned on the same axis.

The structure has two storeys and an asymmetrical window arrangement of two, one, and two windows, with one window located above the porch. The porch is two-storied and features an embattled parapet with coped merlons and embrasures, sitting above a moulded string. The windows are fitted with diamond-leaded panes. The elaborate outer doorway, designed in the Perpendicular style, has a Tudor arch, ballflower carving, and a square-headed hoodmould, along with carved spandrels featuring crossed key motifs. Inside the porch, there is a carved inner door, likely from the 19th or 20th century, with a moulded frame. Above the porch is a two-light square-headed stone window with a hoodmould, moulded mullion, and cusped lights. Most other windows are four-light timber-mullioned casements, except for the ground-floor right window, which is a 19th-century canted bay with slender buttresses and set-offs. This window has moulded stone mullions and transoms, with the upper lights being cusped and some stained glass present.

The interior has been partially inspected and retains some moulded doorways from around the 1840s.