Speaker: Nick Hill
The ‘Old Priory’ at Repton School in Derbyshire lies next to the village’s celebrated parish church, with its Anglo-Saxon crypt. The last study of the building was published in 1929, but a programme of detailed building analysis, accompanied by tree-ring dating. has recently been carried out by Nick Hill. A much more complete understanding of the building has emerged, with an article planned for Derbyshire Archaeological Journal. An Augustinian priory was established at Repton in the late twelfth century, with the ‘Old Priory’ forming the west range of the cloister. Following the Suppression, much of the priory, including its church, was destroyed in the mid-sixteenth century, but the west range was converted to form the core of Repton School. Remaining fabric allows the original form of the west range to be pieced together, with the prior’s lodging and guest hall on the first floor, over an impressive undercroft. Now dated to 1168-80, the building can now be recognised as an important and rare survival of a monastic west range.
Nick Hill lives in Leicestershire and has been recording and researching historic buildings in the Midlands for many years. He is treasurer of the Vernacular Architecture Group and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. A particular area of research and publication in recent years has been halls and chamber blocks of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Now retired, he worked with English Heritage and Historic England for over thirty years, coordinating major projects of conservation and repair to historic buildings.
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