The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Country House
Country House
The present Nostell Priory, an 18thc country house in the care of the National Trust, was built on the site of a medieval Augustinian priory, of which nothing is now visible.
According to Pevsner 'Of the Augustinian priory...nothing is preserved', although his footnote reads 'Mr Pace [George Pace senior] tells me that many stones, carved and moulded, are stored in outbuildings.' Some stones were seen in 1989 by Kit Galbraith ‘in the cowshed near the entrance gate’. Currently, loose carved stones are stored in the stables and in the cellars of the house. Some of these may be from the estate, others collected by Charles Winn in the early 19thc. Nothing of 12thc date has been found in recent years in excavation in the stables area.
Selected stones that might be from the Romanesque period are described in this report. Seven items were identified. Items 1 and 2 were in the stable block. Items 3 to 7 had been brought in from outside near the gate prior to our visit in 2010 and had dry moss still attached. These were stored in a cellar of the house.
Country House
A large stone cross, now kept in Kinneil House, was found during excavations of the nearby Kinneil church ruins in 1951. It was built into walling of the S extension (Laird’s Aisle). Both the house and the church are located close to the Roman Antonine Wall, near one of the Roman fortlets. The stone cross is decorated with a relief of a crucified Christ, and its dates vary from the 11thc through to the 12thc.