St Osyth's Priory ruined east ranges of the Darcy House including the Tower and Chapel

Heritage listing

Details Ruinous parts of Lord Darcy's mansion, as well as Lord Darcy's tower: early-C12 and C13 remains of the dorter range of the abbey, remodelled and extended in the mid-C16 and 1600; C19 conversion of C13 frater passage to chapel. MATERIALS. Stone rubble with some septaria; ashlar chequer work. The early-C17 range is constructed of brick. PLAN. The ruinous parts of the house built by the 1st Lord Darcy and his son form an L shape, extending east from the surviving wing of the Darcy House (to the south of the Abbot's Lodging), turning north to follow the footprint of the east monastic dorter range. The Darcy Tower is attached to the east elevation at the south-east corner of this Range. To the north of the former dorter range, now freestanding and slightly offset to the east, is a ruinous wall, with an octagonal turret to the south. EXTERIOR. The wall between the surviving southern wing of the Darcy House and Darcy Tower is of red brick laid in English bond. It stands about 7-10 metres high, breaking forward and higher to the western end. The first floor windows are blocked and have moulded labels over. The chequerwork of the upper course of a C16 wall can be seen above the roof-line of a lower, later lean-to structure which links the 1600 wall to the Darcy Tower. The Darcy Tower is built of ashlar stone and septaria with flint galletting and has three stages above the ground floor. It has a moulded plinth, with octagonal turrets to the two south and the north-east corners rising above roof level. Between these are parapets with slight gables. Rising above the fourth, north-west corner are two diapered stone chimney shafts with octagonal moulded bases and spiked caps. The south-west turret contains the stairs, lit by a vertical line of small two light windows in the

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.