The Priory

The Priory is a large country house, now used as offices, with a complex history dating back to 1520. It was originally built for E. Webb, with significant early 19th-century additions by Frederick Vizard and 20th-century alterations and extensions. The building is constructed of random and coursed rubble limestone, with a rendered rear wing, ashlar dressings, and stone slate and plain tile roofs. It is two storeys with an attic and cellar, with a three-storey addition and a two-storey with attic rear wing that together form an L-shaped layout.

The front of the building features a 16th-century section on the right, with an off-centre, two-storey parapet gable. This section contains a recessed, Tudor-arched doorway with spandrels bearing the initials “EW” and the date “MCXX” (1520). A hoodmould sits above the doorway, sheltering a pair of four-panel doors accessed by a flight of semi-circular stone steps. Above the doorway is a recessed cavetto cross window with a hoodmould, and a quatrefoil gable vent. Further windows include two large, four-light recessed cavetto mullioned casements with hoodmoulds to the right of the porch, and three leaded timber cross windows to the upper floor. To the left of the porch are a three-light recessed cavetto mullioned casement with a hood, and a six-light leaded timber mullioned and transomed casement above. Two gabled roof dormers are also present. The addition to the left has a three-window front with keyed segmental arches over the windows. A large segmental arch marks the site of a former carriageway, now filled with 20th-century glazing.

The south-east side has a rebuilt parapet gable from the 19th century, with a projecting central chimney stack. A Tudor-arched glazed door and a 12-pane Tudor-arched sash window, both with hoodmoulds, are positioned to the right. The wing to the right has a five-window facade with 12-pane sash windows and a further Tudor-arched glazed door. A later 19th-century rendered addition features a lower-pitched roof and a two-window facade with 12-pane sashes to the upper floor and pairs of 12-pane sashes to the ground floor. A flat-roofed, Tudor-style addition sits at the end of the wing. The rear elevation is largely obscured by 20th-century office additions, which are not considered to be of particular architectural interest.

The interior contains a fine panelled room in the front block, with a Jacobean chimney-piece. Another panelled room features a Latin inscription on its frieze. A stone-vaulted crypt, likely dating from the 15th century or earlier and suggesting a previous religious use, was removed in the mid-19th century; contemporary illustrations in the local newspaper suggest this earlier usage. A mid-to-late 18th-century gazebo is located within the terraced garden to the north-east.