The Old Rectory And The East Wing

THE OLD RECTORY AND THE EAST WING

Former rectory, now divided into 2 houses, occupying the east side of Church Street in Market Deeping. The building originated in the early 14th century as a refectory or infirmary to the Priory of Market Deeping, a cell of Thorney Abbey. After the Dissolution, it was converted to serve as a rectory. The building underwent substantial alterations in the mid-18th century and further extensions and modifications in 1832 by Thomas Pilkington for Reverend W. Hildyard, executed in a Gothick style. Minor 20th-century alterations have since been made.

The building is constructed in coursed limestone rubble with ashlar quoins and dressings, beneath plain tiled roofs featuring a single raised roll-moulded gable to the right. There are 2 ridge stacks and a single gable-moulded ashlar stack.

The north front presents a 2-storey elevation with attics, across an irregular 4-bay front incorporating a plinth, string courses, plain parapet, and 3 stepped buttresses. An off-centre gabled porch contains a rounded and chamfered outer doorway with moulded hood, fitted with planked double doors. To the right stands a tall 2-light window, possibly of early 16th-century date, with transomed construction and Caernarvon arched heads to both tiers of lights; the top tier has a hood mould with zoomorphic stops. Adjacent is a 3-storey canted bay window with an embattled parapet, representing a stone replacement of an earlier, simpler wooden bay confined to the ground floor. The bay contains tall ovolo-moulded mullioned lights on each floor. To the left, the 1832 addition spans 2 storeys across 3 bays, with 3 mullioned and transomed glazing bar casements to the ground floor and 3 two-light casements to the upper floor, all featuring chamfered surrounds and moulded hoods. A recessed single-storey service bay adjoins, containing a mullioned and transomed window.

On the west gable end of the shortened hall block is a 2-light window with pointed lights and a circle above. To the first floor, a 2-light window with chamfered surround is accompanied by a recut 14th-century 3-light window displaying cusped ogee heads, moulded surround, and hood. The gable contains a further 2-light window with Gothick wooden cusping and pointed heads with hood.

The south or garden front was regularised in 1832 into 3 principal bays, with the outer bays advanced and separately gabled. Single half-glazed doors with Gothick tracery and hood moulds flank the middle bay. The centre is occupied by a 16th-century style hall window matching that on the north front, surmounted by a smaller matching 19th-century 2-light window. Within the gable above is a shield bearing the arms of Reverend Hildyard and the date 1832. To either side stand single rectangular bay windows containing 5-light windows with transomes, decorated with elaborate carved Gothick cusping and pointed heads. The first floor carries single similar windows, while the gables feature pierced quatrelobes.

Interior

The internal entrance door is planked and retains 2 original 14th-century strap hinges with curved terminals, strengthened by 2 rails. It is set within a contemporary pointed and roll-moulded door surround. Three full bays of the 15th-century open hall roof survive, defined by tie beams at the main bays with secondary bays defined by short hammer beams featuring curved cavetto-moulded bracing. The hammer beams rest on grotesque corbels. The roof comprises moulded collars, butt purlins, and a large wall plate. Within the hall is positioned a mid-18th-century imperial stair with turned balusters and panelled square newels. At the service end of the hall are 3 chamfered and pointed doorways with reset hood moulds and zoomorphic stops, probably representing the original screens passage service openings. The hall also contains a mid-18th-century carved chimneypiece. The lounge, added in 1832, incorporates Gothick details including a plaster cornice, ceiling centrepiece, and fireplace.