The Priory

The Priory is a rectory that was later converted into a house, originally built in 1473 for John Gunthorpe, who was the Rector of Ditcheat, Dean of Wells, and Lord Privy Seal. The building underwent alterations in 1667 for Christopher Coward and was refaced with internal rearrangements between 1864 and 1868, likely by James Piers St. Aubyn, for Rev. William Lier. It is constructed from coursed and squared rubble with freestone dressings, featuring coped verges, stone-tiled roofs, large stone finials, and tall polygonal ashlar stacks arranged in groups of two, three, and four.

The Priory is designed in a Tudor-Gothick style and has a hall house layout with later modifications, forming an L-plan. It stands two storeys high with an attic and consists of five bays. The second and fourth bays have small triangular gables in the attic, while the first and fifth bays are topped with shaped gables. The windows are stone-mullioned, featuring two and three lights, with arched and cusped heads, and some have labels with carved heads as stops. There is a canted two-storey bay window on the left with a pierced parapet adorned with quatrefoils and bogus datestones, and a single-storey canted bay window on the right, also with a pierced parapet.

The door opening, located in the fourth bay, has a 4-centred arch head, a label, and paired ribbed doors. There are two early blocked windows in the right end elevation, which have cusped heads. The rear elevations retain some 15th-century details, including windows. The interior is predominantly from 1868 and features an elaborate Gothic style, incorporating reused materials such as part of the rood screen from the parish church of St Mary, along with some original 15th and 17th-century work, coffered ceilings, a stained glass window, and an arch-braced roof in the "chapel wing."