Little Cloister House

Little Cloister House

Little Cloister House is part of the conventual buildings of the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter and now serves as a public school house within the King's School. The building dates from the 13th century with substantial additions made in the 15th century, followed by conversion to a house in the 16th century and further alterations in later periods.

The structure is constructed in ashlar, timber frame and brick with a tiled roof and brick stacks. The plan consists of three parallel ranges aligned north-south. The east range is built on top of the west alley of the Little Cloister. In the central range, the ground floor contains a large early 13th-century vaulted chamber that formerly served as the undercroft below the monastic Misericord or Chequer. The Misericord was later refitted as a large chamber on the first floor. On the west side, a 15th-century timber-framed range stands above a recessed 13th-century entry to the vaulted undercroft. The principal entry to the house is from the west alley of the Little Cloister.

The exterior comprises two storeys and an attic. The north front features a gable to each of the three ranges. On the right, the timber-framed upper floors are supported at ground level at the north-west corner by a timber post with braces to the first-floor bressumer. Below the upper floors is inset a 13th-century arched doorway framed by nook shafts with moulded bases and capitals, and a moulded arch with hoodmould. The gable-end walls of the central and east ranges are of brick. The east side of the east range is timber-framed with a first-floor jetty above the garth wall of the Little Cloister, featuring a moulded bressumer to the jetty and close studding with intermediate rails. In the northern half of this wall are two inserted 18th-century sashes with glazing bars in a 4x4 pane pattern, and in the southern half are two three-light casements with glazing bars of 2x3 panes in each light. The south gabled end of the east range is rendered on timber framing.

The entrance hall, located in the centre of the east range, contains an early 18th-century dog-leg staircase with closed string and turned balusters. The first floor of the east range displays exposed timber-framing.

The early 13th-century undercroft on the ground floor of the central range comprises three quadripartite vaulted bays with transverse and diagonal ribs rising from short wall shafts with moulded bases and carved foliage capitals. In the central bay on the east side is a large fireplace with a restored segmental arched head.

The first floor chamber was largely refitted in the 19th century. In the east wall is an elaborate 19th-century timber chimney-piece to the large fireplace, which incorporates earlier decorative features, principally two heads in profile carved in relief and dated 1534, each panel reset in a later frame at either end of the chimney-piece. Within the fireplace is blind Gothic arcading to the sides and back, and across the front of the chimney-piece is a 19th-century frieze of panels carved with sunflowers. Early 18th-century panelling is present, and below the inserted ceiling is a frieze painted with armorial shields.

In the roof space, the early 13th-century roof with braced collars was altered in the 15th century when the original tie beams were cut out and a form of crown post construction was inserted. Remains of painting discovered during restoration work on the face of the gable at the north end were removed for display in the Parliament Room in Church House. The west range displays exposed timber-framing.