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Norman doorway (if it be Norman), about which the Rector gave 
the following account :— 
That it was a house of the 12th century, forming one wing of the present 
mansion of the time of Henry II, and probably only intended for the residence 
of a single priest. It was small and of the usual plan, ie, a lofty hall 
Occupying about two-thirds of the house, the remaining third being divided into 
t o stories; the cellar or parlour below, and the solar (Lord’s chamber) above, 
Under this was the usual passage behind a screen. At each end of this pass- 
age is a doorway; one, the chief entrance to the court, the other, the doorway 
to the church-yard. Both of these doorways are perfect and in good preser- 
vation; ornamented with late zigzag mouldings so characteristic of the period. 
The shafts (pear-shaped) in section, and their capitals (cushion) remain un- 
impared. The two Norman windows high up in the wall to the east of the 
north doorway, are now blocked up, and a small newel staircase with 
transition doorway leads to the upper chamber. 
The floor now continues the whole length of the building, and the upper 
room was fitted up as a Roman Catholic Chapel by the Paston family, in 
the 17th century. Behind the altar is a recess, apparently for the purpose of 
concealing the priest in time of need. Buttresses have been added in the 
perpendicular period, and a shield (saltire?) with two rings interlaced, 
introduced over the north doorway. (Notes from paper on Medic:val Houses of 
Gloucestershire, read at a meeting of the Archeological Institution, July, 1860, 
by J. H. Parker, F.S.A. 
Supplement to the above :— 
The Manor house (of which the Norman house forms one wing) is chiefly of 
the time of Henry VIII., with a rich doorway of the earliest Renaissance 
style, over which is a shield of arms with the hat of a Prelate, usually called 
a Cardinals hat. These are the arms of W. Knight, prothonotary, who probably 
built the house. 
In the garden is a Loggia, a sort of summer-house or open 
arcade, of Tudor arches, with a wall at the back on which are 
heads of the Cxsars. It is about 50 ft. long by 12 ft. wide, and 
called by the villagers “The Music Gallery.” On the south face 
of the garden wall behind the laurels are two stone slabs with 
inscriptions. One has carved on it a Prelate’s Mitre, with ‘ Wil- 
lielmus Knight Prothonotarius, 1591,’ (or, as Parker has it, 
1521). The other ‘Laus tibi Christe,’ with a monogram ‘I. T.’ 
