The Old Vicarage

The Old Vicarage

A major vicarage complex of mixed dates, showing early medieval origins overlaid with successive phases of enhancement. The building began as an early 14th-century house or solar wing, which was reconstructed around 1390 as a tower. A kitchen wing was added in the mid-18th century, and the property underwent major extensions designed by the architect John Dobson in 1828 for the Reverend George Grimes.

The tower is constructed of squared stone and rubble, with the south end refaced in squared tooled stone. The 18th-century wing is brick, rendered and colourwashed. The 19th-century parts are built of squared whinstone with sandstone ashlar plinth and dressings, finished with Welsh slate roofs. The 18th and 19th-century parts form an irregular H-plan, with the tower link positioned at the east end and a conservatory of stretched octagon plan at the south end of the west range. The 19th-century additions are executed in Tudor style.

The south (entrance) front presents two to three storeys across five irregular bays. A chamfered plinth runs across the elevation. The central porch bay features a double-chamfered arch with hoodmould, beneath a canted oriel with embattled parapet and a plain panel set under a gable above. To the left, set back, is a bay containing a large four-light mullioned-and-transomed window with a three-light window above. Further right, a lower bay has a two-light transomed window with a single-light window above and an embattled parapet with a small gable at its centre. The slightly projecting left end bay contains a single-light first-floor window above an attached conservatory. The right end bay is the tower, which has 19th-century two-light windows on the upper floors flanked by older chamfered loops, probably re-set, and carries an embattled parapet with a gable of the cap-house behind. The 19th-century parts have sash windows, mostly of eight panes, in chamfered surrounds beneath hoodmoulds, coped gables with moulded kneelers and finials, and tall stacks with multiple diagonal corniced shafts.

The right return presents the tower rising three storeys across two wide bays. A broad central stack projection is corbelled out at eaves level. Square-headed two- and three-light windows, some blocked, appear on this elevation; those to the ground floor are 20th-century additions but follow the same style. A 16-pane casement window in a C18 stone surround lights the second floor to the right. Some blocked medieval loops remain visible. The parapet is embattled with truncated old brick stacks.

The left return is two storeys across three bays. Twin single-light windows occupy the first floor centre. Flanking flat-topped canted bays hold 12-pane sashes beneath two-light windows in slightly-raised panels carried up as gables. An attached conservatory at the right features 12-pane sashes in recessed and hollow-chamfered surrounds, with a swept and hipped glazed roof whose ribs descend to an integral cast-iron gutter.

The rear elevation shows the tower at the left with a 16-pane casement on the second floor and various blocked loops. The 18th-century wing in the centre displays two 12-pane first-floor sashes and a hipped roof.

Interior

The entrance porch contains a groined vault on moulded corbels and a half-glazed Gothick door. The tower's ground floor is divided into two segmental-vaulted chambers; the north chamber retains an old chamfered fireplace and a pair of pointed doorways. The first floor holds an 18th-century octagon room with a moulded fireplace and domed niches, with remains of an old stair in a cupboard at the north end. The second floor has another moulded early 18th-century fireplace and stone roof corbels. The cap-house contains unusual roof trusses with saddles and additional outer principals carrying purlins.

The kitchen wing has a first-floor room with an acanthus frieze and a contemporary fireplace featuring fluted pilasters and scroll cornice. The early 19th-century part includes an open-well stair with stick balusters and a coffered ceiling to the hall. The drawing room displays an elaborate vine-scroll frieze, cornice and floral ceiling rose; the dining room has a coffered ceiling. Doors throughout are of six vertical panels; folding panelled shutters are present. Gothick and Tudor fireplaces with ornamental cast-iron grates appear in various rooms.

Historical Context

Merton College, which held the patronage of Embleton, agreed in 1332 to provide quarters where the vicar might live suitably and entertain visitors decently. The major reconstruction appears to have taken place after the parish was laid waste by the Scots in 1385.