Survey Data

Reg No

50080564


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Historical, Social


Original Use

Priory


In Use As

Priory


Date

1870 - 1890


Coordinates

314753, 233913


Date Recorded

04/11/2013


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Attached four-bay two-storey over raised basement priory, built c.1880. Flat roof, hidden behind red brick parapet with carved granite coping and cast-iron railings, carved granite cornice to base of parapet, and cast-iron rainwater goods. Red brick walls with granite quoins, carved cornice over ground floor, and pointed pilaster buttresses having trefoilated capping to front (west) elevation. Red brick plinth course with carved granite capping. Bipartite square-headed window openings, with chamfered granite surrounds and mullions, carved colonnettes to ground floor windows, and one-over-one pane timber sash windows. Steel bars to ground floor windows. Shouldered square-headed window openings to basement, having chamfered granite lintels, timber framed windows and wrought-iron bars. Square-headed door opening to front, with chamfered granite surround and timber panelled door. Cast- and wrought-iron railings set on cut granite plinth to site boundary.

Appraisal

This priory forms part of a group with the attached Saint John the Baptist's Church and later friary. It was probably designed by G.C. Ashlin, who designed the friary and assisted in the design of the church. This site has a long historical association with ecclesiastical use, with the church built on the site of a former monastery of Crossed Friars under the Rule of Saint Augustine, which stood just outside the city walls and was established c.1180. The simple form and design of this building is enlivened by polychrome detailing, while the use of granite attests to the skill and artisanship employed in its construction.