9, Burton Street

This house, originally a vicarage and now offices, was built in the 16th and early 17th centuries, significantly remodelled around 1750, and with later 19th-century additions and 19th and 20th-century alterations. It is constructed of red brick with stone dressings to the front, and rendered stone rubble and gault brick to the rear, with slate roof, stone-coped gables, brick truncated end stacks, and a further rear stack. Originally a T-plan with a rear wing, further rear wings were added later. The house has two storeys, a cellar, and an attic.

The front to Burton Street features a 3-window range at the first floor, comprised of canted 2-storey bays with 20th-century windows, and a single 20th-century window between them under a stone lintel. Two late 19th-century attic gables are present above, with a dormer window between them. A central two-leaved door is set within a 19th-century brick frontispiece. A blank gable wall with casements on the rear wing is on the left end, and the right gable abuts No. 11. The rear has various doors and 19th and 20th-century windows, including a five-light stone-framed window to the ground floor left.

The front reception room to the left features cornice moulding, a chamfered bridging beam, and reeded door surrounds. The room to the right has shallow-arched alcoves either side of the chimney breast, and retains boxed beams. A stone-flagged entrance passage leads to a staircase hall with a fine early 18th-century dogleg staircase rising to the attic. This staircase is set across the rear gable end and includes a ramped handrail, closed string, and moulded column-on-bobbin balusters. Attic rooms in the front range have 18th-century two- and four-panel doors with HL hinges. Visible roof purlins and a small door of 17th-century panelling lead to the roofspace stair. The roof to the front range and central rear wing has heavy purlins and coupled rafters, possibly a 18th-century re-use of an earlier roof structure.

The house served as the Vicarage of Melton Mowbray for approximately 300 years until 1899, and is documented in records from 1609 and 1660. It was remodelled before 1760 by Rev. Thomas Middleton. The main range walls and sections of the interior date from this period. The front bays and gables and rear wings reflect later 19th-century alterations and remodellings. From 1899 until the First World War, the vicarage was used as a hunting box, and subsequently became the Blakeney Institute. It is part of a group of significant historic buildings in Burton Street, including the Church of St. Mary.