Bede House

Bede House, now a church hall, was built around 1428 and restored in the 19th century. It is constructed of squared coursed and banded limestone and ironstone with a 20th-century plain tile roof. The building comprises a hall with a chapel at the east end.

The south elevation of the chapel has a one-window range with a two-light window featuring ogee tracery. It has a gabled roof with an ashlar parapet and a finial. A two-stage clasping buttress is at the corner, topped with a gargoyle. The east window is three-light with renewed tracery, a crocketed hood mould, and carved label stops. The north elevation of the chapel is similar, featuring a window with renewed tracery and a crocketed hood mould with carved label stops. An arch-head entrance leads to an undercroft at the far right of the elevation.

The south elevation of the hall has six bays, with a two-window range. It features two-light square-head windows with transoms and cusping in the second bay from either end. A north doorway is located in the bay furthest to the left. Buttresses are situated between the bays. The elevation has ashlar gable parapets and a rebuilt lateral stack. A 20th-century single-storey extension is attached to the right of centre. The north elevation of the hall resembles the south elevation.

The south doorway, in the third bay from the west end, has a moulded stone surround with a four-centre arch and a hood mould decorated with rosettes. A central doorway on the west elevation has a two-centred arch, a crocketted hood mould with label stops decorated with rosettes, and a five-light Perpendicular window with panel tracery, a crocketted hood mould and carved label stops above. A double-chamfered plinth runs around the entire building, dividing and rising over the doorheads. A carved kneeler is positioned to the left side of the gable, and a bellcote is at the apex, featuring a crocketted gable and canopied niches containing 20th-century figures.

Inside the hall, a 15th-century fireplace is set into the right wall, featuring a four-centred arch and a hood mould. Five Bedesmens lockers are in the left wall, with 20th-century doors. The hall has a restored 15th-century roof structure with moulded arch braced trusses. A moulded and chamfered arch provides access from the hall to the chapel, with castellated capitals to the responds. Ogee-head niches are positioned to either side of the east window, and an ogee-head piscina is to the right. The undercroft beneath the chapel was not inspected.

Bede House was re-founded in 1428 by Archbishop Henry Chichele as a foundation for 12 old men and a woman attendant, each with a cubicle and hall locker. It was in use until the 18th century. The chapel, which was roofless by the mid-19th century, was restored by Earl Fitzgerald.