Alfriston Clergy House

Alfriston Clergy House was built in the 13th or 14th century by a prosperous Yeoman Farmer as a family home. It's a medieval type building and it reminded me a lot of the Whipple House. Fireplaces were added to the Alfriston House in the 16th or 17th centur, which made it really very similar to Whipple House.

In the 15th century it became a part of a priory. hence it's name. It was the very first property acquired by the National Trust - in 1898.

Notice the lovely wooden door tops - they were probably added in the 16th or 17th century and I loved them.

Originally it did not have a fireplace, but a firepit in the floor - one of the pictures shows this. Cooking would have been done n an outbuilding because of the danger of fire. The pictures show the Hall, where everything would have happened. On one side of the Hall, the house had a Solar, or Chamber where the family slept. On the other side of the Hall, there would have been a buttery, a cheese room, storage and places for the servants to sleep.