The Priest House is a

Grade II* listed 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, H ...

fifteenth century timber framed

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 ...

in the centre of

West Hoathly West Hoathly is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, located south west of East Grinstead. In the 2001 census 2,121 people, of whom 1,150 were economically active, lived in 813 households. At the 201 ...

, in West Sussex, England. It is close to The Cat Inn and St Margaret's Church. It is now a museum, open to the public six days a week from March to October.

History

The Priest House was built for the Priory of St Pancras in Lewes as an estate office to manage the land they owned around West Hoathly but was seized by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

following the dissolution of the monasteries. Subsequently, it belonged to

Anne of Cleves Anne of Cleves (; 28 June or 22 September 1515 – 16 July 1557) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 6 January to 12 July 1540 as the Wives of Henry VIII, fourth wife of Henry VIII. Little is known about Anne before 1527, ...

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; – 28 July 1540) was an English statesman and lawyer who served as List of English chief ministers, chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false cha ...

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous a ...

and

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

although there is no evidence that any of them visited the property. It passed into private ownership in 1560 and was owned by the Browne family (who were yeoman farmers) until 1695. For the following two hundred years it was owned by absentee landlords who allowed it to fall into disrepair. It was bought by John Godwin King and restored for him by Maurice Pocock in 1908. John Godwin King presented it to the

Sussex Archaeological Society The Sussex Archaeological Society is an organisation dedicated to researching and preserving the history and archaeology of the English counties of East Sussex and West Sussex. It manages six historic sites, including Lewes Castle and Fishbourne ...

in 1935. The house and garden have been open to the public since 1908. It is now a museum of local life with country furniture, ironwork and local history with temporary exhibitions. The cottage garden features large herbaceous borders containing over 170 herbs and perennials and is open to the public from March to October. The garden has been opened twice per annum for the

National Gardens Scheme The National Garden Scheme opens privately owned gardens in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and the Channel Islands on selected dates for charity. It was founded in 1927 with the aim of "opening gardens of quality, character and interest to th ...

for the past twenty-two years.

Architecture

The Priest House was originally built as a

with a central hearth and was probably thatched. The frame is made of oak, held together with oak pegs, then filled with panels of wattle and daub (there are exposed panels visible in the south bedroom). It had five bays, the solar wing being in the northern two bays, the middle two bays were the hall and the southernmost the service end with buttery and pantry. At this time the house was lit by a large unglazed window. The floor was earthen, covered with rushes and sweet smelling herbs. About 1580 a central chimney was inserted, an upper floor put in the central two bays where the hall was and the house was reroofed with a Horsham Slab stone roof. The roof weighs approximately 16 tons The inglenook fireplaces are made of local stone and have curves on the side where knives have been sharpened. The original pointed doorway was blocked and a new doorway inserted in the wall beside it. The roof is an unbroken ridge line with three of the original trusses remaining: The middle truss of the hall had arched braces below the tie beam of which one brace still remains. The roof construction is a crown post and collar purlin. The rafters are in pairs, halved at the top & held together by a horizontal collar. Supporting the collars is the “collar purlin”; supported by the crown posts, which take the weight of the roof down to the tie beams. This is all held in place by curved braces next truss to the north was the closed frame of the end of the hall bays and it has a visible king post strutted from the tie beam. The south end of the house has a sloping

catslide roof A saltbox house is a gable-roofed residential structure that is typically two storey, stories in the front and one in the rear. It is a traditional New England style of home, originally timber framing, timber framed, which takes its name from its ...

, also of Horsham slab.

Suffragette Handkerchief

On the first floor

The Suffragette Handkerchief The Suffragette Handkerchief is a handkerchief displayed at The Priest House, West Hoathly in West Sussex, England. It has sixty-six embroidered signatures and two sets of initials, mostly of women imprisoned in HMP Holloway for their part in th ...

is on display. There are sixty-six embroidered signatures and two sets of initials, mostly of women imprisoned in HMP Holloway for their part in the

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom founded in 1903. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and p ...

Suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

window smashing demonstrations of March 1912. The handkerchief was found at a local jumble sale by Dora Arnold, custodian in the 1960s. Its link to the village of West Hoathly is not clear (although John Godwin King's daughter Ursula was a member of the

National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the ''suffragists'' (not to be confused with the suffragettes) was an organisation founded in 1897 of women's suffrage societies around the United Kingdom. In March 1919 it w ...

) and research is ongoing. The list of the signatories and some notes on their activism is available.

Witch marks

Apotropaic carving on a door at the Priest House West Hoathly

There are witch marks scratched into wood in several places in the house including the front door and on the beam above the main fireplace. These are more properly known as apotropaic marks and were believed to prevent

witches Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

from entering the house. They are believed to date from the seventeenth century. Set into the ground outside the front door is a rough slab of iron which is waste from a local furnace. This was believed to prevent witches entering the house (witches were commonly believed to be scared of iron).

References

External links

The Priest House
{{DEFAULTSORT:Priest House West Grade II* listed houses Houses in West Sussex Grade II* listed buildings in West Sussex Mid Sussex District Anne of Cleves Mary I of England Elizabeth I