Description

BIRKENHEAD

SJ3288NE PRIORY STREET 789-1/14/139 (East side) 29/07/50 Chapter House chapel at Birkenhead Priory (Formerly Listed as: ST MARY'S GATE Priory Chapel with room above)

GV II*

Former chapter house of Birkenhead Priory with possible scriptorium over, latterly in use as a chapel. Late C12. Coursed and squared stonework with Westmorland green slate roof. 2-storeyed, 2 bays in length. West front on to former cloister with central door and flanking windows forming a series of 3 round-headed arches. Gable apex and window above restored, 1913-1919. Two small windows in south elevation, that to east C12 though restored. Upper storey also extensively restored or rebuilt, with gathered chimney corbelled out, and large dormer in roof. Smaller half-dormer to right of chimney. Inserted C15 window in north wall, and a 5-light C15 window in east wall. Inside, the chapter house has two bays of quadripartite vaulting carried on clustered shafts with trumpet corbels. The shafts have been cut to take a screen which no longer exists. Stained glass in east window by Ninian Comper, depicting figures of saints, the founder of the priory etc. The window is dedicated to Robert Marsden who was a member of the committee in charge of the restoration of the building in 1913-1919. Stained glass depicting the adoration of the magi in the north window. The scriptorium above was restored in 1913-19 when a new roof with decorative panelling was added. The chapter house was in use as a church from the reformation until the building of the adjacent St Mary's church in 1821 (q.v.). Its restoration was carried out by Edmund Kirby under the direction of a committee of leading citizens in 1913-1919. The monastic infirmary adjoined the chapter house to the north, and traces of its west wall still survive. On the west, it connected with the priory church, and the truncated north wall of the church is still visible where it adjoined the chapter house. See also Remains of Birkenhead Priory. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N and Hubbard E: Cheshire: Harmondsworth: 1971-).

Listing NGR: SJ3282888557

External Links

• Wikidata Q69558287

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Recommended Books

• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)