Records dating from 1358 show that Sir Ralph de Arderne founded the priory.The original buildings included a former church and chapter house, the remains of which were excavated.
But what remains of the priory is now an entrance hall, leading to a parlour and buttery, with an upstairs vaulted chamber, and adjoining rooms.
Purbeck and Sussex marble were used in the original construction of the buttery.
The prior lived in this section of the buildings, which were later converted in to a much larger country house with surrounding four acres of gardens and farm land.
The vaulted room upstairs has traces of wall paintings which still show Elizabethan ladies, the heraldic arms of King James 1st with his motto Beati Pacific, animals and birds including a duck, a raven and a cockerel, which are said to have witnessed the Nativity. See See http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41702.
The current occupants of the house have continued the tradition, and a cockerel, hens, ducks, geese and peacocks wander across the gardens and in the farm land.
In Victorian times, the house was occupied by the family of 'Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 1848 – 7 October 1918), who was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.
As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind". See www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hubert_Parry.jpg.
"The Prince And The Composer, a film about Hubert Parry by HRH The Prince of Wales,was screened on BBC Four on Friday 27 May, 2011. In 'The Prince and the Composer', His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, a longstanding enthusiast for Parry's work, set out to discover more about the complex character behind it, with the help of members of Parry's family, scholars and performers. www.dur.ac.uk/news/newsitem/?itemno=12149.
The royal wedding on 29 April 2011 "came almost exactly two years after Prince Charles had suggested Hubert Parry as a suitable subject for the documentary...The twenty ninth of April 2011 may have raised Parry's profile because the roof of Westminster Abbey was raised at least three times by his music during the royal wedding' of Prince William to Kate Middleton." www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/2011/05/the-prince-and-the-composer.shtml
A short distance from the priory, 'the church of St Peter stands on the brow of a hill on the southern edge of the village of Lichfield...The original church, of the 12th century, seems to have consisted of a single chamber, probably with a semicircular east end'.
'In the 13th century this was extended eastward...The tower was added later. The inner north aisle was built in 1856... The outer aisle and vestry were added in 1906'.
'On the inner face of the north wall is a relief carving of seven monks' heads, typifying the Seven Deadly Sins; this was brought from Italy in modern times'.
'Of the two bells one is un-inscribed and the other is of 1849. The communion plate includes an unusual type of chalice circa 1570, having an acutely shaped bowl with a band of engraved panels inscribed 'FOR THEM OF LENS MERE PARISE'. The registers begin in 1568'. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41702
This is a very interesting article - thank you for compiling it. Sbishop
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