Prior's Kitchen (Dean and Chapter Library)

PRIOR'S KITCHEN (DEAN AND CHAPTER LIBRARY), THE COLLEGE

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Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
I
List Entry Number:
1323260
Date first listed:
06-May-1952
List Entry Name:
Prior's Kitchen (Dean and Chapter Library)
Statutory Address:
PRIOR'S KITCHEN (DEAN AND CHAPTER LIBRARY), THE COLLEGE
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Date:
2001-04-03
Reference:
IOE01/03759/05
Rights:
© Mr Bob Cottrell. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
I
List Entry Number:
1323260
Date first listed:
06-May-1952
List Entry Name:
Prior's Kitchen (Dean and Chapter Library)
Statutory Address 1:
PRIOR'S KITCHEN (DEAN AND CHAPTER LIBRARY), THE COLLEGE

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
PRIOR'S KITCHEN (DEAN AND CHAPTER LIBRARY), THE COLLEGE

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:
County Durham (Unitary Authority)
Parish:
City of Durham
National Grid Reference:
NZ2730242069

Details

DURHAM AND FRAMWELLGATE THE COLLEGE
NZ 2742 SW (North side)

14/98 Prior's Kitchen (Dean
6/5/52 and Chapter Library)

GV I

Kitchen, now muniment room. 1366-74 by John Lewyn. Coursed squared sandstone
with plinth and ashlar dressings. Octagonal with corner projections making
square plan at ground level. Lantern has stone-flagged roof. South elevation
has gabled angle buttresses flanking paired chamfered lancets; corner bays have
clusped lancet at left, inserted small square window at right; sloped stone coping
to these projections. Top battlemented parapet. Sundial on right buttress.
Lantern has high hipped roof with gablets and gabled dormers.

Interior: coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings; later brick insertions;
stone-vaulted roof with 16 ribs springing in parallel pairs from each side, forming
a star with 2 ribs springing from each corner; the central intersections form the
base of the lantern, reconstructed in render and glass c.1970. Each wall has a
relieving arch; ovens on north, south-west and south-east walls have brick
voussoirs, that on north-west has brick segmental head. Round-headed doorways
in north-east wall (2), and beside fire in north-west and south-west, the latter
giving access to a small room in which the rear of an C18 bread oven is seen; the
iron door of the oven is in the rear of the medieval fire. 2-centred arched
openings in east wall, and similar but blind openings in west. The corner rooms
make use of space within the square-cornered additions to the octagonal plan which
serve as buttresses to the vault, the structures being rubble-filled over the rooms.
It is thought that the design of the vault is either original or derived from
mosques as in Cordoba, Spain.

Source: W. Page V.C.H. 1928 reprint 1968, 129.


Listing NGR: NZ2730242069

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:
110146
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Durham, (1928), 129

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Ordnance survey map of Prior's Kitchen (Dean and Chapter Library)

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 24-Jun-2026 at 04:38:45.

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© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

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