Former Rectory, Now Parish Hall, Flats and Private House is a Grade II listed building in the County Durham local planning authority area, England. First listed on 31 January 1967. Rectory, parish hall, flats, private house.
Former Rectory, Now Parish Hall, Flats and Private House
- WRENN ID
- outer-gateway-rye
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- County Durham
- Constituency
- Bishop Auckland MP: Dr Sam Rushworth (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 31 January 1967
- Type
- Rectory, parish hall, flats, private house
- Address
- Former Rectory, Now Parish Hall, Flats and Private House, Front Street, Stanhope
- OS grid reference
- NY 997 390
- Coordinates
- 54.74649, -2.00549
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The building is a former rectory, now used as a parish hall with flats above, and a private house. It was largely rebuilt in the 18th century, dated 1821, but incorporating elements of a 1697 rectory. According to inscriptions above the door, the first rectory was for Dr. William Hartwell and the second for Dr. Henry Hardinge; however, Hardinge reportedly died in 1820. The design is attributed to I. Bonomi. The building is constructed of painted rough render with an ashlar plinth, chamfered quoins, and stone dressings. It has a roof of graduated Lakeland slate.
Access to the flats is gained through an outbuilding projecting to the left and through a passage in the former service wing, now known as Bishop Butler’s House. This wing is constructed of thin courses of sandstone with a stone-flagged roof.
The main building is two storeys high and has seven bays, with the outer pairs projecting. The central double door has six panels and is set within a plain stone surround, with two coats-of-arms above and a raised inscribed panel below a drip mould. The windows are sash windows with fine glazing bars in plain stone surrounds, and there is a gutter cornice. The low-pitched hipped roof, with hips over the two-bay projections, has corniced ridge chimneys. The right return has a quoined central projecting bay with a six-panel door and overlight in a plain surround, and paired sash windows set on a sill string. The garden front features a central canted bay with three sashes under a cornice and blocking course.
The house in the right wing features an open-well dog-leg staircase, partially re-arranged in the lower part, with an original wreath and curtail. There is an elaborate fretwork panel in the low cupboard door beneath the stair, and a dado rail is present throughout the hall and staircase. The former study contains an inlaid marble chimney-piece in an Adam style, with delicate details, while the former library has a palmette-decorated marble chimney-piece and some original bookcases. One first-floor room features a chimney-piece made of Frosterley 'marble'. Interior decoration includes stucco ceiling roses in acanthus patterns, moulded cornices, and similar stucco ceiling decoration in the Parish Hall. The flats above have not been inspected.
Local climate
Former Rectory, Now Parish Hall, Flats and Private House sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 960 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 75% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 59% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 58 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 97% of listed buildings. Of these, 38 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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