Chapter House and Diocesan Centre (with Canonry Flat and Clergy House)

Chapter House and Diocesan Centre with Canonry Flat and Clergy House

A Grade I listed building of considerable historical depth, comprising interconnected ranges constructed and modified from the medieval period through the early 20th century. The complex is built in similar stone to the adjacent Cathedral with modern tiled roofs and late 19th and early 20th-century bargeboards.

The principal east entrance is recessed between projecting gabled wings and approached by steps. The entrance features an 18th-century doorcase with a pulvinated frieze, a 6-panelled door, and 12-pane sash windows to each side. The first floor above carries two 12-pane sashes with a gabled dormer. Brick dressings frame the windows, with brick also forming the upper part of the flanking wall to the left.

The southeast crosswing has a gable end with a corbelled chimney displaying diagonal stacks. On the first floor to the right of the chimney stands a 9-pane sash window, with a 20th-century casement window and doorway on the ground floor below. A small window at basement level opens to the left. A two-window return faces south. At right angles stands a large 19th-century splayed bay window serving the Chapter House, topped by two small-pane sash windows set across the eaves. The south gable of the Chapter House contains three diagonal chimney stacks and a blocked medieval window, with sash windows featuring horns.

To the west, a medieval block is partially obscured by a 19th-century service block. The west elevation of the Diocesan Centre displays three 12-pane sash windows with two hipped dormers (20th century) above. The former Clergy House projects forward with a higher roofline. Its south gable contains two narrow medieval window lights. The west elevation shows two 12-pane sash windows below an 8-pane 19th-century sash. Stone steps lead to a 19th-century Gothic doorway with a mullion and transom window to its left. The north gable has a blocked opening to both first and attic floors, with a modern window below. The rear (east) elevation contains mullion and transom windows in 17th-century style. The north gable of the taller south block features a window with coved cornice and a 12-pane sash above.

To the left, a three-window elevation on the north side of the north crosswing includes an early 17th-century 4-light ovolo-moulded window. The east gable end of this wing has two 12-pane sash windows on the first floor in brick reveals, with a single ground floor 20th-century window beneath a 17th-century lintel. Battered medieval walling and a blocked outlet of a medieval garderobe are visible.

Interior

The east entrance hall features a modillion cornice to its plaster ceiling, which comprises two compartments. A central beam is supported on a column and end pilasters. The north wall contains an 18th-century doorcase with a 6-panelled door similar to the entrance door, and a further 6-panelled door to the former service quarters.

The dining room retains 18th-century dados and rail with a moulded plaster ceiling and 19th-century shutters to the windows. The Chapter House displays an early to mid-19th-century coved and moulded cornice and a contemporary 6-panelled door in a doorcase with carved floral panels above. The Queen's Room contains a broad 16th or 17th-century fireplace with chamfered detailing. A late 13th or early 14th-century pointed stone doorway appears in the west wall. Within the former Clergy House at mezzanine level stands a 17th-century ovolo-moulded doorframe and an 18th-century moulded ceiling decoration similar to that in the dining room. The former kitchen retains panelled dado and moulded rail.

The first floor features an early 19th-century landing balustrade. Within a large cupboard lies the encased remains of a gallery to a former late medieval cross-passage. The Oak Room retains jowled timber posts to ceiling beams and two 6-panelled doors with architrave frames. The de Winton Room contains a fine chimney piece of circa 1700 with a fireplace displaying a bolection-moulded surround and an overmantel with bolection moulding flanked by tapering Corinthian pilasters supporting a deep cornice. A similar fireplace without overmantel appears on the first floor of the former Clergy House. The King's Room has an early 18th-century cornice and panelled dado, with 18th-century sunk wall panels, dado panelling and shutters to the west wall.

Attic rooms above the Chapter House contain 19th-century 6-panelled doors and fireplaces. Two exceptional mid-13th-century roof trusses remain in the main north-south medieval block, alongside trusses from the late medieval roof. The roof over the southeast crosswing dates from the late 16th or early 17th century.