St Joseph's Abbey (''The Abbey''), Storrington at

Storrington Storrington is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Storrington and Sullington, in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. Storrington lies at the foot of the north side of the South Downs. it had a population of around 6 ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, was originally a

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

, later a small country house and then a

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

school.

It is an irregular five bay, two and three storey house built in 1871-2 by the Rev. George Faithfull in the

Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

style, reusing material from the 1621 rectory which was demolished at this time. In the 1880s it was the residence of Colonel Walter George Stirling, a baronet who had a pedigree herd of

Jersey cattle The Jersey is a British breed of small dairy cattle from Jersey, in the British Channel Islands. It is one of three Channel Island cattle breeds, the others being the Alderney – now extinct – and the Guernsey. The milk is high in butterf ...

. Successive tenants altered the house; in 1911 (semi-timbered work) and 1930 (brick range) when Colonel H. V. Ravenscroft added a billiard room and ballroom designed by John Leopold Denman. In 1953 the house became a Dominican convent and boarding school. The school closed in 1999. Inside, the oldest part of the building has the former Dining Room (now Chapel) with good quality 19th- century linenfold panelling and frieze, plastered ceiling with

strapwork In the history of art and design, strapwork is the use of stylised representations in ornament of ribbon-like forms. These may loosely imitate leather straps, parchment or metal cut into elaborate shapes, with piercings, and often interwoven in ...

ribs and

stained glass window Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

s. The Drawing Room has early 18th-century panelling and a fireplace with engaged columns; and the former Library (currently Meeting Room) has a 16th-century stone fireplace. There is an elaborate oak main staircase with turned

balusters A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its c ...

and a painted well staircase with turned balusters and chamfered square newel posts with ball finials.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abbey, Storrington Country houses in West Sussex Convents in England