I have been to.. Wilmington Priory

Not strictly a battlefield or military site, but stupidly impressive none the less and I thought worth sharing and besides it's not every day you get to stay at a place that has its own Wikipedia entry!

My sister in law is in her 60th birthday year and has decided rather than just focus on a birthday she'd celebrate the whole year.. and invited her sisters (and their leeches - of which I am one!) for a weekend stay at this place... 

There are a couple of links at the bottom with more detail -which I don't propose to precis/repeat here - but this place is a right archaeological jigsaw puzzle..

Copyright Landmark Trust, natch'...

Wilmington was an "alien" priory..  a new term to me..  and basically meant it was a satellite of a much larger monastery (in this case in Normandy) put in place to manage any lands that the mother monastery might have in the area...  the oldest bits date from the early 13th Century...

Also copyright Landmark Trust, natch'...  turn this one on it's side to match the orientation of the first map..

Sis in laws room (following)..   this is above the the porch in the map and would have originally been a high status room, accessed from the first floor of the great chamber ..

This was our room (following) which was first floor South East wing, and originally the chapel.....  rafters and above are Tudor..

...below the rafters, Georgian..

Floor below our room was the sitting room.....  pure Georgian, but originally 1225.....

..remains of the Old Hall -  the drum tower in the first map would be about where that house is..

South wall of what was the Old Hall...   that older bit is the outside of what they call the Porch in the map above, so the wall is mid 14th Century (1330)

East end of the Old Hall - there was a mahoosive'ly deep well behind that half wall

Great Chamber, or rather the remains (following)..  15th Century...  this is the view from what would have been inside (looking south)..

You can still see the spiral stairs in the upper parts of those towers, though no access to them now unfortunately..

...and from the other side.. so looking west along the front of the house..  there was (probably) a portcullis on the outside of this wall above that window next to the bench at some point in time..  14th C..  the window is the outer side of the porch..

Speaking of the porch..  not quite how you or I would use the word I suspect, this was probably my favourite part of the building..  so the window in the picture above, is on the left..  the arch on the right was the original entrance to the Old Hall

© Copyright Peter Barr and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Detail (following) of one of the faces on the bottom of each of the vaulted arches in the porch..  stunning..  he has a half beard and moustache..

Kitchen...comparatively new..  "only" 17th C.

Room above the kitchen (following)..  this leads to the bedroom my Sis in Law was using..  pretty much untouched so as to reserve the archaeology

Yee olde 15th C ping pong table...  was I the only one in the house who thought "what an amazing place for a game"? Probably... 

Entrance to the under croft/crypt

Amazing...  and a home to bats (as was the porch)

...and this was the view from the south kitchen window..  the Long Man

...brilliant weekend...  love to go there again.

More history here: Wilmington Priory short history [clicky]
The Wikipedia entry: Here [clicky]