Thicket Priory

Thicket Priory is a country house, now a Carmelite monastery, built between 1844 and 1847, with a 20th-century addition to the former main facade that is of no particular interest. It was designed by Edward Blore for Reverend Joseph Donnington Jefferson. The house is constructed of orange-red brick with ashlar dressings and a grey slate roof, standing approximately square on plan and displaying a Jacobethan style. The main facade is now partially obscured by the later addition. The garden facade is mainly of two storeys with eight first-floor windows, a four-stage tower, a three-stage stair turret, and a chapel to the north-east corner. It features an ashlar plinth and quoins. There are two off-centre entrances: a glazed door to the left within a double-chamfered surround with quoined jambs and a hoodmould, and a glazed door to the right under a Tudor arch and hoodmould, also with quoined jambs. An ashlar sill band runs along most of the range. The ground floor windows are predominantly three- and four-light mullion and transom windows in double-chamfered surrounds with quoined jambs, mostly under hoodmoulds. A first-floor sill band extends to the two left-hand windows. First-floor windows are mainly single-, two-, and three-light mullion and transom windows, with quoined architraves; some are under hoodmoulds. A two-light oriel window has a gable that breaks the modillion eaves band. A bay to the left is the gabled end of the south return and has a two-light mullion window under a hoodmould to the gable. The tower has bands between the second and third stages and similar single-light windows. It features a decorative arcaded eaves cornice, a replacement brick balustrade, and a similar stair turret with a pyramidal roof. The chapel is two storeys high, with four bays, the third of which projects and is five-sided, with the fifth side occupied by a three-stage stair turret. The ground floor has an entrance with a 20th-century glazed door within a quoined surround, and a further entrance to the five-sided bay with a similar glazed door under a Tudor arch and stepped hoodmould. A plate glass window is present in the second bay, while the others have slit windows. A first-floor sill band is visible. The first floor has two pointed two-light windows with reticulated tracery to the head. The five-sided bay has a single pointed light to each side with reticulated tracery and under a continuous hoodmould. A modillion eaves band runs along the top. The turret tapers to an octagonal top with an eaves band decorated with "neurons", then a brattished cornice and an ashlar octagonal tent roof with a finial. A pair of diagonal ridge stacks are present. The south facade is similar but has an attic storey with gabled roof dormers, each with a finial, and an ashlar balustrade between. The interior includes a Jacobethan open-well staircase, some six-panel doors, and some moulded ceilings.