The Deanery And Prior'S Tower

THE DEANERY AND PRIOR'S TOWER, CARLISLE

A complex of buildings comprising a Prior's tower with hall range, extensions and adjoining stables, originally built for the Priory of St Mary, Carlisle, and now serving as a Deanery, museum and flats.

The main structure dates to the late 15th century, with significant 17th-century extensions and alterations. Further extensions were added in 1853 by James Stewart, with internal alterations by C J Ferguson in 1882. The building underwent alterations in 1949–51, with dates marked on a rainwater head in 1950.

The buildings are constructed of red sandstone ashlar on a chamfered plinth, with string courses on the tower and a battlemented parapet. The tower has a flat lead roof; the other ranges have green-slate roofs with coped gables and kneelers, decorated with full and half-gabled dormers and ashlar ridge and end chimney stacks. The stable range is topped with a sandstone flag roof.

The main façade faces the Cathedral. At the centre stands a square tower of two storeys over a basement. The hall range to the right is two storeys, three bays, with a projecting two-storey extension. To the left is a three-storey, three-bay extension, and beyond it a single-storey, four-bay stables block.

The tower features a central two-light cusped-headed oriel window, corbelled out and set in a deeply chamfered surround beneath a hoodmould and pent roof. Other windows are small and irregular casements. The upper floor contains a two-light mullioned window with diamond leaded panes. The right return shows a high crease marking the original roof line of the hall range. The rear elevation has a similar oriel and other windows.

The interior of the tower contains a rib-vaulted basement, contemporary with the tower itself. The upper-floor room is panelled with panelled doors. The painted wooden ceiling features decorative and heraldic devices applied during the term of Prior Senhouse, circa 1494 to 1521. An angle newel stair provides access to the top storey and roof.

The Deanery section features a first floor dating to the 17th century with two-light mullioned windows and a late 17th-century carved panel bearing the Bishop's arms. Two-light gabled half dormers appear on a view dated 1715. The projecting facing double-gable extension at right dates to 1853 and contains two- and three-light mullioned and cross-mullioned windows. The rear wall of the hall range is likely 15th-century stonework but now has sash and mullioned windows.

The interior of the Deanery contains ground-floor 16th-century segmental-arched stone fireplaces, with an upper-floor fireplace carried on corbels. The internal front wall now incorporates a former 17th-century doorway. The wooden staircase probably dates to 1882, following C J Ferguson's alterations, with 19th-century panelled doors throughout. Extensive repairs in 1988–9 required the gutting of the hall range.

No. 5, formerly part of the Deanery but now a separate flat, has a central panelled door in a stone architrave with segmental pediment and flanking windows in stone architraves, all inserted in 1950 when an 1853 pent extension was removed. A blocked opening to the left has a double-chamfered surround. A projecting stone porch on the right, added since 1950, provides access to the tower. Above are sash windows with glazing bars in 17th-century stone architraves with hood cornices. The V-jointed quoining to the left is of calciferous sandstone and rises for two storeys before changing to red sandstone; the third storey was added in the 19th century with half-gabled dormers. The rear elevation has two- and three-light mullioned and cross-mullioned windows. The interior has been altered.

The Prior's Stables, numbered 5A and 5B, have a left recessed doorway now fitted with a 20th-century door. The 15th-century flattened arch above it bears the initials TG, referring to Prior Thomas Gondibour (prior circa 1464–1494). Further right is a 15th-century doorway with a segmental chamfered arch and hoodmould. Between the doors are a small and larger sash window with glazing bars in chamfered surrounds, with a 20th-century window in a 20th-century opening further left. The left return has 20th-century double plank doors in a 20th-century former garage opening. The roof was rebuilt in the 1960s. The interiors of the stables were not inspected.

Recent scholarship indicates the tower was built in the 1490s, rather than circa 1507 as previously believed.