Description

TL 9270-9370 IXWORTH

3/3
Ixworth Abbey

(formerly listed as Abbey, with
Monastic remains in grounds)

14.7.55 I

A Priory of Augustinian Canons, partly demolished after the Dissolution: the
remainder converted to domestic use. Founded by Gilbert de Blund in 1170. Part
1 1/2 storeys, part 2, part 2 storeys and attics: complex, irregular form.
Various materials: freestone, flint, red and white brick, timber-framing,
plaster. Plaintiled roofs. The principal (north) front, faced in mid-to-late
C18 brick, is in 2 sections. The eastern half, 11/2 storeys, has a plain
parapet, rising to a rounded arch over the entry. Range of 4 early C19 small-
paned sash windows, set into earlier openings with segmental arched heads: one
has heraldic glass of the Cartwright and Norton families, put in c.1890. High
8-panel door with raised fielded panels: doorcase with fluted Tuscan pilasters
and metope frieze. Along rear wall, 2 long late C17 sash windows with thick,
ovolo-moulded glazing bars. This range of the building was added in the late
C17, and the interior contains some fine original fittings: 3-sided open newel
stair with twisted balusters, entrance archway to undercroft with heavily
rusticated and ornamented architrave, and a panelled upper room with coved
ceiling, and fireplace flanked by pilasters with composite capitals, the
western half of the front stands forward, making the whole facade L-shaped.
2 storeys, Roof with 2 hipped gables to north. 5 windows: small-paned sashes in
deep reveals, both windows and openings with segmental arched heads, 3 openings
blocked, with painted windows. Central 6-panelled door: raised fielded panels,
rectangular traceried fanlight, and doorcase with fluted pilasters and flat
pediment supported on carved console brackets. Return front on east is
plastered, with wooden dentil cornice: 3 plain stone-faced buttresses to ground
storey. 3 3-light Regency Gothic windows with heraldic glazing of 1841, 4
small-paned sash windows in flush frames to upper storey. This part of the
house contains the truncated remains of the south range of the Priory and the
whole of the east (dorter) range, apart from the Chapter House. Early C13
undercroft in 3 double bays: 2 octagonal piers suporting roof of groined
vaulting. Slype at north end, aligned east-west: 3 bays of more finely-
finished vaulting. Separate room at south end: 2 double bays with supporting
central pier and fireplace on north wall. The room above has late C17 sash
windows and is lined with re-used Jacobean panelling. In the upper part of the
original west wall (now within the building) one early C13 lancet window with
deep splay lined with original plaster: simulated stone jointing in red ochre.
No trace of the west range remains. The late Cl5 red brick Abbot's lodging, in
the south-east angle between the dorter range and the late C17 wing, possibly
modernised in later C16, has a good moulded ceiling to ground floor hall.
Attached at the south-east angle, an outbuilding in brick and flint with
plaintiled roof forms one side of a 3-sided rear courtyard: roof surmounted by
a timber cupola with clock and bell: octagonal turret with 8 supporting
columns, conical roof with finial.

Listing NGR: TL9298270435

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Ixworth Abbey at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17526532

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)