Crawley Old Town: TEN PICTURES: The Ancient Priors

The Ancient Priors is a "complete and well-preserved example" of a Wealden medieval timber-framed hall-house on the High Street.It was built in approximately 1450, partly replacing an older (probably 14th-century) structure—although part of this survives behind the present street frontage. It has been expanded, altered and renovated many times since, and fell into such disrepair by the 1930s that demolition was considered. It has since been refurbished and is now a restaurant. The main (15th-century) part of the building faces west on to the High Street, and the older section faces south and is hidden from view. The latter is known to be the oldest structure remaining on Crawley High Street.

Secret rooms, whose purpose has never been confirmed for certain, were discovered in the 19th century. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance, and it has been described as Crawley's "most prestigious medieval building" and "the finest timber-framed house between London and Brighton.

Extensive archaeological investigation in the 1990s determined that although the possibility of an older building on the site could not be ruled out, the oldest part of the present structure is 14th-century and the main part (fronting the east side of the High Street) dates from about 1450 and incorporates no older fabric.

The main (15th-century) part of the building faces west on to the High Street, and the older section faces south and is hidden from view. The latter is known to be the oldest structure remaining on Crawley High Street.

The building was originally used as a dwelling house, and the first confirmed owners were a family of colliers, who acquired it in 1608. By 1668, when it was owned by a resident of Worth, the whole building had become an inn. Known at first as The Whyte Harte, its spelling was later standardised to The White Hart. In the early 18th century, the prominent local ironmaster Leonard Gale—holder of much property in the Crawley area—owned the building, and is believed to have lived there. In 1753 the Brett family (who had held the property for 26 years) sold the building for £473 (£65,000 as of 2017).

Within a decade of this sale, the building was no longer used as an inn and was renamed Old White Hart Farm.(A new, larger White Hart Inn was built nearby and opened in 1790.)

In 1881, the building became a Temperance Hotel for a few years. During the renovation work, hidden rooms were discovered. Visitors to the hotel included Lord Kitchener, but the venture failed and a shop unit with residential accommodation above was established instead. Various shopkeepers passed through until an antiques dealer, Mr Parkhurst, took the tenancy in 1911. He changed the name to The Ancient Priest's House (and later The Ancient Prior's House, which evolved into Ancient Priors) and used it as a showroom for his antique furniture, further enhancing the ancient appearance by removing plaster to reveal the internal timberwork and replacing modern windows with medieval-style diamond-mullioned equivalents.

After Parkhurst's death, the Ancient Priors stood empty and went into decline. By the late 1930s, the local council wanted to demolish it to allow for redevelopment of the High Street. Harry Charman, who owned a clothing shop nearby, bought it in 1937 and renovated it, converting it into three self-contained units. The main part of the façade became a tearoom; the old southern section was used as a sweet shop; and the northernmost part of the main building had various uses, including for many years a hairdressing salon

Crawley-born boxer Alan Minter, who won a bronze medal at the 1972 Olympic Games and became Middleweight champion of the world in 1979, bought the restaurant in 1977 together with his manager. It was renamed "Minter's Restaurant & Wine Bar" and had an inn sign depicting a bare-knuckle prizefighter outside it.Minter ran it himself until 1980, when new management took over. They bought the premises in 1983 and renamed it "Solomon's Restaurant", but stopped trading on 27 February 1988 and sold the building to an estate agency. The owners said they could not compete with the popularity of fast-food outlets, and claimed that a poor atmosphere in the town at night discouraged people from eating out. Since then, it has become a restaurant again, operating as the Crawley outlet of the ASK restaurant chain.

The Ancient Priors was listed at Grade II* by English Heritage on 21 June 1948; this defines it as a "particularly important building of more than special interest" and of national importance.