The Priest's House is a

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

-owned property in Muchelney, in the English county of

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. It has been designated as a grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The house was built in the early 14th century by the nearby

Muchelney Abbey Muchelney Abbey is an English Heritage property in the village of Muchelney in the Somerset Levels, England. The site consists of ruined walls showing the layout of the abbey buildings constructed from the 7th to 16th centuries, and the remai ...

to house the parish priest. Over the centuries the house deteriorated and was adapted for use as a school. In the late 19th century it rented as storage by a farmer. In the early 20th century the

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) (also known as Anti-Scrape) is an amenity society founded by William Morris, Philip Webb, and others in 1877 to oppose the Victorian restoration, destructive 'restoration' of ancient bu ...

campaigned for its restoration and it was then taken over by the National Trust. The thatched stone building is rented to a tenant and has limited public access.

History

The Priest's House was built by the nearby

around 1308 for the parish priest. The vicarage was valued at £10 per annum in 1535. The building was said to be "ruinous" in 1608. It was used by the vicar or curate until around 1840, when the house was used as a cellar and later as a school. In the late 19th century it was rented by a farmer for storage. Because of its poor condition it was recommended for demolition in both 1896 and 1901. The

organised a public appeal to raise money for repairs to which

Jane Morris Jane Morris (née Burden; 19 October 1839 – 26 January 1914) was an English embroiderer in the Arts and Crafts movement and an artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model and muse to her husband Will ...

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Literary realism, Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry ...

and

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

contributed. As the funding for the restoration was no longer an issue the building was acquired, in 1911, by the

who employed Ernest Barnsley of the

Barnsley brothers Ernest (born Arthur Ernest Barnsley (1863 –1926) but known as Ernest Barnsley) and Sidney Howard Barnsley (25 February 1865 – 25 September 1926) were Arts and Crafts movement master builders, furniture designers and makers associated with Ernes ...

, the

Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

master builders, to design and the work. It was carried out by

Norman Jewson Norman Jewson (12 February 1884 – 28 August 1975) was an English architect-craftsman of the Arts and Crafts movement, who practised in the Cotswolds. He was a distinguished, younger member of the group which had settled in Sapperton, Glouce ...

and William Weir. The work left in place and strengthened earlier structures where possible but added new aspects including a stone

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

and a kitchen range. In the 1990s and 2000s the building underwent further structural repairs, including the replacement of the timber structure supporting the roof and was rethatched with grant aid from

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. Today the National Trust rent it to a tenant who provides limited access to the public.

Architecture

The two-storey thatched

hall house The hall house is a type of vernacular house traditional in many parts of England, Wales, Ireland and lowland Scotland, as well as northern Europe, during the Middle Ages, centring on a hall. Usually timber-framed, some high status examples wer ...

is made of local stone with

hamstone Hamstone is a honey-coloured building stone from Ham Hill, Somerset, England. It is a well-cemented medium to coarse grained limestone characterised by marked bedding planes of clay inclusions and less well-cemented material which weather dif ...

dressings. Externally the house measures by wide. It has four bays along the south front which incorporates original Gothic doorway and tracery windows. Inside is a 15th-century fireplace. The original hall went from floor to roof, however in the 16th century a ceiling was added dividing it into two floors. This also involved changes to the original windows. The hall has a

cruck A cruck or crook frame is a curved timber, one of a pair, which support the roof of a building, historically used in England and Wales. This type of timber framing consists of long, generally naturally curved, timber members that lean inwards and ...

roof with a saddle apex typical of the 14th century.

References

External links

Priest's House information at the National Trust
{{DEFAULTSORT:Priest's House, Muchelney, The Houses completed in the 14th century Houses in Somerset National Trust properties in Somerset Grade I listed houses in Somerset Grade I listed buildings in South Somerset Priest's House Thatched buildings in Somerset Hamstone buildings

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links