The Priory

1840 Tithe Map
(PDF file format)

Castle Street
Numbers
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6 Oriel Cottage
 7
 8 Oriel House
 9 Lion House
10 Wigmore House
11 Porch House
12 Epworth House
13
14 Bank Cottage
15 Clematis Cottage
17 The Priory
20
22
24
26
28 & 28A
30
32 to 42
44
46
48
50 Munday Cottage
Fairfield House
Stokefield House
Stokefield Cottages
The Hatch
Thornbury Cottage 
Thornbury House

 This photograph shows The Priory in Castle Street in Thornbury as it is in 2011.  We have not seen inside this building nor have we seen its deeds and we would very much like to learn more about it.

The earliest records relating to the property appear to describe it as the 'Green House.'  This house and the house next door (now known as Clematis Cottage) were once part of the same house.  We have been told by the present owners of Clematis Cottage that in 1983 the two houses were surveyed in detail by Linda Hall for her book "The Rural Houses of North Avon and South Gloucestershire."  Her conclusion was the whole property was probably fifteenth century in origin but possibly earlier.

The Priory is now a grade two listed building that appears on the National Heritage website "Images of England."   This website suggests that the house was once half of a very old house that shows signs of having been modernised in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and extended in the eighteenth century. 

The white part of the building in the photograph above is called The Priory now and before that it was called Priory Cottage.  The view from street level is misleading.  The eaves of the whole building (where the roof meets the walls) have differing levels.  The higher eaves on the edge of the photograph belong to neighbouring Clematis Cottage.  This is a sign that Clematis Cottage was modernised to make a loft space above a lowered first floor ceiling.  The Priory's rooms upstairs appear to have the high ceilings of a former age.  The first window  on the left is under the lower eaves.  It belongs to Clematis Cottage and shows that the roof over it was not altered with the rest of the property to which it belongs.  This unusual arrangement is just one indication that at one time it was all one building.  The right hand "end part" of The Priory also seems to have higher eaves and larger windows, which again suggests a more modern extension.

A local historian Paul Wildgoose also says Porch House was built at the same time as Clematis Cottage and altered at the same time, when it was given a 19th century porch.  He says that inside is a hall with chamfered stone fireplace with square head. The parlour has panelling of small square and rectangular panels.  The stair case is "Dog leg" with turned balusters.  On the first floor is the great chamber which is known as the chapel room.  This room has a chamfered stone fireplace with shouldered head and a moulded mantel shelf.  The fireplace cuts a fragment of wall painting to the right.  The design consists of a Maltese cross within a circle and a coiled snake.  Further to the right is a spice cupboard with scratch mouldings on the door.

On the left we have an image of the rear of the building used as a Christmas card, probably in the 1980's and is an indication both how much larger it is from the back than the front and also how rural it must have seemed at one time.  On the right we have another thumbnail image of the rear of The Priory.  We can only apologise for the poor quality of this photograph which was taken from a sale notice of 1994 and is one of only two images we have of the rear of the building.  It does however give an idea of the size and shape of the building.  Please click on it for a larger photograph.

We have two other images of The Priory.  The first is a drawing by a local historian and amateur artist, Mary Bruton, thought to be taken in the 1950's.  Even if one allows for "artistic licence" it appears that Miss Bruton has carefully copied a porch very different from that on the present day building.  The image here on the left is a thumbnail one.  Please click on it for a larger image.

Another artistic impression of The Priory appears to have been produced in the fist quarter of the nineteenth Century, judging by the costumes of the ladies in it.  The original painting is held by Sir George White and he has kindly allowed us to reproduce a small section of it for research purposes only.  Here The Priory appears to be thatched and does not have a visible porch at all.  We can make no informed comment but should you wish to see a larger photograph of this extract from the painting, please click on the thumbnail image on the right. 

Click here to read about the owners and occupants of The Priory.

This page was last updated: 09/05/2012