NHER 14546 (Monument record) - Site of medieval Prior's manor house, also known as The Rectory

Site of Prior's Manor House (as distinct from Bishop's manor house, which was cathedral). Building marked on the Ordnance Survey map was demolished in the 1950s. A 19th century photograph shows a house with central range higher than wings clad in recent brick and flint, but with evidence of a timber framed core, and a large chimney.
Documentary references to flues being installed in 1410 and kitchens and stables built 1320.
Full details of all documentary references in (S1).
Information from [1].

This house lay to the east of the church, immediately beyond the old Back Lane that was closed in 1831. The demolition of this building is shown on two aerial photographs, one dating from 1953 (S2) where the building is clearly visible, and another taken in 1959 (S3) where all that remains is a pile of rubble. A photograph dating from around 1900 shows a three-bay, two-and-a-half-storey farmhouse of flint with brick dressings, apparently of around 1800. However, the pitch of the roof and the appearance of the building suggest a much earlier timber framed core.

Although the manor itself dates from the late 11th century, the earliest surviving record of a manor house on this site is a document of 1255-6. Other documents detailing repairs made to the building in the 14th and 15th centuries indicate that there was a thatched hall large enough to house 15 to 18 persons at harvest time. The hall was probably heated by an open hearth until flues were added in 1410. Other rooms and buildings noted in documentary sources include a chamber, a solar, kitchens, a servants' chamber, a bakehouse, a malt-house and malt-kiln, and a dairy as well as several barns, a carthouse, a cow-shed, a stable and a granary.
The extant farm buildings on this site are 19th century.
See (S1) for further details.
A. Cattermole (NLA), 4 January 2008.

July-September 2020 and January 2024. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with conversion of three 19th-century barns to residential dwellings.
It was clear that the site had seen significant recent disturbance – almost certainly when The Rectory was demolished during the 1950s. No trace of this building was identified, although the bulk of the service trenches excavated were to the west and north of its probable location. The small number of potentially medieval or early post-medieval features recorded included several poorly-dated pits, one of which contained layers of heat-affected material. Structural remains were limited to two flint and mortar wall foundations - one potentially medieval but the other most likely post-medieval in date.
See report (S4) and NHER 68406 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 31 July 2024.