High Trees

ASTON-CUM-AUGHTON CHURCH LANE SK48NE (west side), Aston 6/6 High Trees 29.3.68 GV II Rectory, unoccupied at time of resurvey. Part of older rectory-used as service wing to new house of c1771 by John Carr for Rev. William Mason. Stuccoed red brick, Westmorland and Welsh slate roofs. 2 storeys, 3 x 2 bay house of 1771 with 2 x 2 bay service wing set back on left having lower addition to rear-left corner. Main house: plinth. Central C19 porch with double doors flanked by corner pilasters with acanthus capitals, frieze with panels and keystone, modillioned cornice with blocking course. Boarded, ground-floor windows linked by sill band, bay 1 window has rubbed-brick flat arch visible beneath stucco. 1st floor: unequally-hung 9-pane sashes with projecting sills and architraves set in reveals. Modillioned eaves cornice; hipped roof with brick end stacks. Service wing on left: door flanked by boarded sashes with glazing bars; 9-pane sashes to 1st floor. Modillioned eaves with front stack on left of bay 2; hipped roof with ridge stack. Lower addition set back on left has boarded window to ground floor and transomed casement above, hipped lean-to roof. Interior: not inspected, previous list description notes chimneypieces and cupboards. William Mason was rector of the parish, poet, musician, painter, playwright, garden designer and friend of Horace Walpole and Thomas Gray whose biography he wrote. Other works included The English Garden and his Heroic Epistle, an attack on the architecture of Sir William Chambers.

Listing NGR: SK4660484938