Description

SS41NE
11/91

FRITHELSTOCK
Cloister Hall Farmhouse and attached wall, gateway and outbuilding

GV
II
Prior's house, now farmhouse. C14 origins; early C17 alterations; late C17 extension; front wing refronted and remodelled in late C19. Rendered coursed slatestone rubble, except front wall rebuilt late C19 in squared and coursed slatestone. Gabled slate roofs; C19 stone ridge and end stacks to front range.

Plan form and development: front range may be former C15 hall range, because it retains thick walls and traces of a blocked former window in the right gable; the adjoining through-passage and former service room lie in a block attached to the rear; to the right of this is a late C17 kitchen. Front elevation of two-storey, three-window range with projecting gable end to left. Late C19 porch has pointed-arched doorway flanked by lancets: the late C19 arch-braced roof inside has a C15 moulded cornice; late C15 granite doorway has label mould over moulded-arched architrave with sunk spandrels. Late C19 label moulds over late C19 two-light casements with glazing bars.

Rear wing: early C17 studded and panelled door to left side wall with original iron clasping ring, set in ovolo-moulded frame; late C19 stained glass window to left brought here in 1970s. Early/mid C19 dairy outshut to rear, with plank door.

Interior: front range, remodelled in late C19, has fireplace dated 1680, with lonic columns and richly-carved decoration, in ground-floor room to left, which was brought here in 1970s.

Rear wing: through-passage has chamfered ogee-stopped joists and C17 studded door set in C16 convex-moulded architrave to right; tall room to rear of through passage occupies former ground and first-floor levels and has reset C17 plank and stud partition to right; first-floor level has chamfered beams and C17 plank door set in chamfered ogee-stopped frame to front range of house; two jointed crucks with trenched purlins, cambered lap-jointed collar to one truss, and straight principal rafters. Late C17 block added to right side of the rear wing has former kitchen on ground floor, with chamfered beam and stop-chamfered bressummer over open fireplace.

Subsidiary features: C17 L-shaped wall, of coursed slatestone rubble with some cob, is attached to rear left and has a C17 gateway with Welsh slate roof and C17 studded and panelled door set in ovolo-moulded architrave. Extending at right angles from the rear right corner of the house is an outbuilding which was probably the former dorter range of Frithelstock Priory (q.v) and which encloses the north side of the former cloister. Built of uncoursed limestone rubble with cob beneath eaves; yellow brick dressings to rear wall of late C19 stable added to right; hipped Welsh slate roof.

History; the Prior's Hall is probably C14 in origin for a Bishop's Visitation of 1400 mentioned the Prior for retreating from the communal life.

Listing NGR: SS4637219589

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26399132

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)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)