The Privy Restoration

The Privy Restoration 

We had to remove the roof timbers, which were rotten and covered in Russian Vine tentacles. It made a fantastic bonfire!

I began to worry if we would ever manage to restore the building. There are not many privy's left in the county, many of them have been pulled down, or turned into small garden outbuildings. So we became very determined that our privy would survive.

We also had to remove all the old plaster, as most of it was falling off and not repairable. On doing so we uncovered a carved stone. The inscription states that Mr John King is a carver of stone in London 1686.

We thought that we knew all the history of the Prebendal Manor, but here was some new information.

We think that the stone was reused as building stone when the Prebendal Manor solar was demolished in 1798.

Dr Samuel Brunsell had been one of the prebendaries of Nassington in 1660. His brother's daughter married Christopher Wren. When Samuel died his window was given permission to remain in the manor. It is possible that due to her brother-in law's connections in London she knew where to find good stone carvers.The Prebendal Manor was altered during that period. Mr King may have undertaken the work.  

So we had an interesting interlude from the building works while we researched the inscribed stone.