Building record 368/4/3 - Row of cottages to north of Chapel of St. Mary and St. Edmund

This house formed a detached service range belonging to the demolished Catesby Priory and is now divided into two dwellings.

{1} Row of 4 cottages. Early C17. Coursed squared ironstone, tiled roof, brick ridge and end stacks. 2 storeys; 8-window range. 4 doors. 2- and 3-light mullioned windows to ground floor, 3-light mullioned windows to first floor, all with hood moulds. Formerly outbuilding of Old Catesby House.

{3} Priory Meadow currently exists as two domestic dwellings. The site once formed part of Catesby Abbey which was demolished in the sixteenth century. Priory Meadow has been identified as a surviving range of the abbey. Three areas of the building were of particular interest to this study, the western roof section, the central roof section and the ceiling of the ground floor. Samples of sixteen timbers was taken. The westernmost roof area was constructed from oak timbers felled in the period AD1529-1539. This may relate to a new work done when the property changed hands in AD1537. The central roof trusses were constructed from timbers felled in the winter of AD1579-80. There is a reference from AD1582 which refers to "new building". A window lintel in the wall separating these two roofs was made from a tree felled in AD1577. Of three ground floor ceiling beams sampled, one did not date, one appeared to be from the same batch of timbers as was used in the older roof, and one from the same batch of timbers used in the central roof. This is difficult to interpret, unless one accepts that the ceilings were made at two different times using the same mouldings and style of construction.

{4} The service range north of the house was converted to cottages.

{7}To the north of Catesby Abbey was a detached linear range (the current Home Park and Priory Cottage), with
the former priory fish ponds to the north. Home Park and Priory Cottage may also incorporate medieval fabric; Home Park may include masonry of St Edmund’s Hall, the priory’s guesthouse, and dendrochronological analysis of roof timber indicate a mid-to late C16 date, suggesting that they may have been re-roofed when remodelled as the service range to the Onley house. These properties were subdivided into tenements in the C19 and were allocated kitchen gardens to the south of the drive, west of the church. The kitchen garden is in use as a pig paddock. Both these properties have
landscaped gardens, approached by a graded drive.

{8} Undated photo;

Historic England, Undated, Catesby Priory, Catesby, BF061856 (Archive). SNN116385.

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 4/43 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F05 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN44900.

<3> BRIDGE M.C., 1999, Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers From Priory Meadow, Lower Catesby, Daventry, (checked) (Report). SNN63125.

<4> Heward J.; Taylor R., 1996, The Country Houses of Northamptonshire, (checked) (Book). SNN41757.

<5> Giggins, B., 1998, Priory Meadow, Catesby, (unchecked) (Unpublished Report). SNN107244.

<6> Giggins B.L.; Launghton J., 2003, Catesby: an Interdisciplinary Study, Part II, p.35-55 (unchecked) (Article). SNN109362.

<7> Historic England, 2015, Designation Assessment: Medieval settlement at Lower Catesby, p.9-10 (Designation Advice Report). SNN110113.

<8> Photographs of buildings in Catesby (Photographs). SNN111839.

Record last edited

Jun 6 2024 9:35AM