Ostrum Hall was built in 1186 as the refectory of a small priory. It has been a granary, a barn and, for most of the last century, a roofless shell. The owners bought it with consent for six flats and asked us whether it could be one home instead.

What we did

We spent a winter measuring before proposing anything. The vault was repaired in lime, the east lancets were unblocked and reglazed, and a new oak floor was laid over the medieval one without touching it. The long table seats forty, as it did in 1186.