Description

MARCHAM PACKHORSE LANE
SU4596 (West side)
18/172 The Priory approx. 10m S of
06/08/52 Marcham Priory (not included)
(Formerly listed as Park House
Lane as The Priory in grounds
of No.34)

- II*

House. Mid C16. Roughly coursed limestone rubble, with alternate dressed stone
coursed on first floor and ashlar quoins and dressings. Gabled stone slate roof;
double-flued ashlar ridge stack with roll-moulded dripcourse. 3-unit plan with
through-passage, and also with lobby-entry to rear. 2 storeys; 3-window range.
Tudor style. Studded C16 door with strap hinges left of centre is set in
Tudor-arched convex-moulded architrave. 2-light ovolo-moulded stone-mullioned
windows to left: to right stone-mullioned and transomed ovolo-moulded
round-arched windows above similar mullioned 4-light windows with central king
mullions. All windows have leaded-lights and are set in cyma-moulded
architraves. Similar 2-light round-headed window in right gable wall; left gable
wall has ovolo-moulded attic light, and chamfered timber lintels over one
3-light and three 4-light chamfered wood-mullioned windows. Rear: narrow pointed
chamfered doorway to lobby entry, and C16 studded door set in pointed chamfered
oak doorway to through passage: 3- and 4-light moulded wood mullioned and
transomed windows with leaded lights to right; to left is similar but altered
4-light window with 3-light chamfered wood-mullioned window above. Interior:
through passage has stop-chamfered joists and is flanked by partitions:
partition to right has chamfered muntins and rail dividing panels, and 2 service
doorways with sunk spandrels: plainer partition to left is probably later.
Service room to right has stop-chamfered beam. Central room has stop-chamfered
beam and joists, and segmental tympanum arch over moulded stone fireplace with
sunk spandrels. Room to left (former living-room) has stop-chamfered bean and
joists: corbelled fireplace has tall stepped overmantle and chamfered flat arch.
Arched doorhead to newel stairs adjoining stack: room above (former parlour) has
corbelled ovolo-moulded fireplace, with keyed half-round overaantel of ashlar
flush with wall. Chamfered doorhead with sunk spandrels over doorway to large
first-floor room to left: flat-arched fireplace has urn-stopped chamfer. 6-bay
collar-truss roof, with side struts, but purlins and arched windbraces:
stop-chamfer,to tie bean in parlour. Attic floor removed. This building is
unusual for its combination of the through-passage with the newly-introduced
lobby-entrance, which was here used as a back door from the private living
quarters: Spokes and lope suggest a date of c.1570 which makes the use of the
early C16 style round-arched windows very old fashioned. The unusual plan of
this house suggests that it may have been used as a temporary residence,
possibly an audit house.
(P.S. Spokes and E.M. Jope, "The Priory, Marcham: a small 16th century house",
Berkshire Archaeological Journal, Vol.57 (1959), pp.86-97; Buildings of England:
Berkshire, p.177).

Listing NGR: SU4567196434

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17550200

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

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)