Lewes Priory precinct: Hall and Prior's lodgings

Text Box: The Prior’s household As in many other monasteries, at Lewes the complex of buildings forming the Hall, Prior’s lodging and guest accommodation for important visitors lay on the western side of the cloister. It was here that the principal administrative offices of the monastery were situated where the principal obedientiaries and lay officers of the monastery conducted their business. These buildings had been extensively enlarged by John Ashdown, penultimate prior of Lewes (c.1506-1526), whose monogram, under a mitre, now sadly decayed but clearly readable in the mid-19th century, together with a Tudor rose and the de Warenne arms, graced the façade of the new buildings which extended west and north from the original Prior’s house towards the Great Gate and presumably housed the long gallery and a new guest range. In this, Ashdown was following the practice of many abbots and priors across England at this date. These buildings survived the dissolution apart from minor works by the Sackvilles including one or two new doorframes and fireplaces and perhaps some plaster ceilings in the Elizabethan period. They can be seen represented somewhat schematically on a 1620 map where the features shown are largely consistent with an early 16th century date. These buildings were eventually leased for demolition purposes in 1668 when they were described as “that great old house and building … lately known by the name of the Priory of Lewes”. The details of their arrangement survive in leases of the site to Nicholas Jenney by Henry VIII in 1540 and Edward VI in 1547, specifying the buildings and rooms reserved at that stage for the King’s use. These comprised “the Great gatehouse and all buildings in the same and all the upper buildings and chambers from the hall towards the west.

Text Box: That is the Hall Place and the Pantry, a little chamber opposite the same pantry, a chamber called the Chapel with the hall place and steps leading through the west door of the church; two buildings called wine cellars, a lower chamber called the Chequer and the old storehouse under the stairs and another building called the Counting House above the Storehouse and also the Utter Chamber; another room called the Great Chamber, the Little Chamber with the entry between the … Utter Chamber and the Great Chamber, the Gallery with the new buildings above and below on the north and west side of the Great Chamber with stairs on the south side of the same room and also the private kitchen and bakery with free access to the said new buildings through the Great Malthouse towards the said kitchen and bakery, reserving the garden adjacent to the said new buildings…”

Text Box: The plan left provides an indication of the likely layout of these buildings, based on various early excavations and surveys of the site from the late 18th century to the early 20th century. The garden layout is taken from a 1760 estate map of the site, together with printed maps of the area prior to its disturbance by the coming of the railway in 1845. As can be seen, these buildings are extremely extensive and form a large and impressive complex as befits a great monastery. Chief amongst these buildings, and amongst the earliest, was the Hall, an impressive structure approximately 100ft long and 45 feet wide, comparable to those of other great ecclesiastical institutions. There the majority of the monastic servants ate, served from the main kitchens which were situated mid way between the Hall and the Frater where the monks ate. The main kitchens therefore catered for over 100 people on a daily basis, having an output of food almost 25% of that of the kitchens at Hampton Court. The senior Priory servants ate in the Great Chamber, referred to as the Great Dining Chamber in Nicholas Jenney’s will (1550), which therefore had stairs leading down to the private kitchen and bakery, which also served food to the Prior in his chamber and no doubt to the senior obedientiaries including the chamberlain, who was responsible for the Exchequer (Chequer) where the accounts were stored and whose bed chamber would have been close by. The Counting House, in common practice, was where wages were paid to the permanent household of over 80 servants and to temporary staff and the daily kitchen accounts were checked by the clerk to the kitchens. These buildings, therefore, would have been a hive of activity, from which the Prior could escape with important guests to the gallery, which caught the morning and afternoon sun and had impressive views towards the Great Church towards the east and the Prior’s private garden to the west.

Left: Prior’s household and Hall complex, Lewes Priory (1620) Top: conjectural plan of Prior’s lodging complex, Lewes Right: Tudor rose, monogram of Prior John Ashdown (c.1506-1526) and de Warenne arms from New buildings