Ixworth Abbey

Details

TL 9270-9370 IXWORTH

3/3 Ixworth Abbey (formerly listed as Abbey, with Monastic remains in grounds) 14.7.55 I

A Priory of Augustinian Canons, partly demolished after the Dissolution: the remainder converted to domestic use. Founded by Gilbert de Blund in 1170. Part 1 1/2 storeys, part 2, part 2 storeys and attics: complex, irregular form. Various materials: freestone, flint, red and white brick, timber-framing, plaster. Plaintiled roofs. The principal (north) front, faced in mid-to-late C18 brick, is in 2 sections. The eastern half, 11/2 storeys, has a plain parapet, rising to a rounded arch over the entry. Range of 4 early C19 small- paned sash windows, set into earlier openings with segmental arched heads: one has heraldic glass of the Cartwright and Norton families, put in c.1890. High 8-panel door with raised fielded panels: doorcase with fluted Tuscan pilasters and metope frieze. Along rear wall, 2 long late C17 sash windows with thick, ovolo-moulded glazing bars. This range of the building was added in the late C17, and the interior contains some fine original fittings: 3-sided open newel stair with twisted balusters, entrance archway to undercroft with heavily rusticated and ornamented architrave, and a panelled upper room with coved ceiling, and fireplace flanked by pilasters with composite capitals, the western half of the front stands forward, making the whole facade L-shaped. 2 storeys, Roof with 2 hipped gables to north. 5 windows: small-paned sashes in deep reveals, both windows and openings with segmental arched heads, 3 openings blocked, with painted windows. Central 6-panelled door: raised fielded panels, rectangular traceried fanlight, and doorcase with fluted pilasters and flat pediment supported on carved console brackets. Return front on east is plastered, with wooden dentil cornice: 3 plain stone-faced buttresses to ground storey. 3 3-light Regency Gothic windows with heraldic glazing of 1841, 4 small-paned sash windows in flush frames to upper storey. This part of the house contains the truncated remains of the south range of the Priory and the whole of the east (dorter) range, apart from the Chapter House. Early C13 undercroft in 3 double bays: 2 octagonal piers suporting roof of groined vaulting. Slype at north end, aligned east-west: 3 bays of more finely- finished vaulting. Separate room at south end: 2 double bays with supporting central pier and fireplace on north wall. The room above has late C17 sash windows and is lined with re-used Jacobean panelling. In the upper part of the original west wall (now within the building) one early C13 lancet window with deep splay lined with original plaster: simulated stone jointing in red ochre. No trace of the west range remains. The late Cl5 red brick Abbot's lodging, in the south-east angle between the dorter range and the late C17 wing, possibly modernised in later C16, has a good moulded ceiling to ground floor hall. Attached at the south-east angle, an outbuilding in brick and flint with plaintiled roof forms one side of a 3-sided rear courtyard: roof surmounted by a timber cupola with clock and bell: octagonal turret with 8 supporting columns, conical roof with finial.

Listing NGR: TL9298270435

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

283579

Legacy System:

LBS

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