Swaffham Bulbeck - The Abbey from SW 2013-11-19

Also known as the Priory. The ground floor is a vaulted undercroft, built c.1300, "the only surviving building of a Benedictine nunnery founded in C12 by Isabel de Bolebec. It was probably a warehouse or storeroom for the Prioress's lodging which would have occupied the first floor hall above. In C18 it was acquired by William Hamond of Haling Park, Surrey who rebuilt the first floor" in the early C18, probably also re-cladding most of the exterior of the undercroft, and building the projection at the centre of the S front, although the sections flanking the ground-floor window on the left are said to be largely original: www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/11... . RCHM: www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/cambs/vol2/pp96-115, item 2; see also www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/cambs/vol2/plate-70 for the original knapped flintwork on the W wall which is unfortunately invisible in my photo.

1938 photo on Flickr shows the unusual way that the windows open - the lower sections are horizontally sliding sashes.