The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory

A rectory, now a house, located on the north west side of Claypit Street in Whitchurch Urban. Formerly dated to 1749, this is a Grade II* listed building of considerable architectural and historical interest.

The main structure is built of red brick with some grey sandstone ashlar dressings, topped with a slate roof. It comprises a main block with a service wing adjoining to the south east. The building rises to two storeys and an attic over a basement, with the service wing standing two storeys high.

The principal front elevation features a plinth with moulded brick top, a stone cornice band, and a parapet with stone coping. An integral brick end stack stands to the right, with an external brick end stack to the left. Three flat-roofed dormers with two-light wooden casements punctuate the roofline. Five bays across the front are articulated by boxed glazing bar sashes with stone cills and gauged-brick heads; two ground floor sashes to the left have had their bars removed to form four panes. Basement windows are blocked to the left and fitted with two-light wooden casements to the right. The centrepiece is a six-panelled door with raised and fielded panels, set within a moulded stone architrave and painted stone Tuscan doorcase with pilasters supporting an entablature and triangular pediment. Three stone steps lead up to the door.

The left-hand gable end has a plinth and two bays. The right-hand bay contains a first-floor fixed sash, a ground-floor blind window, and a basement window. The left-hand bay features a full-height canted bay with moulded wooden eaves cornice and hipped slate roof; each floor has three glazing bar sashes, those to the first floor being fixed.

The rear elevation displays a plinth and stone cornice band across five bays, with boxed glazing bar sashes, some replaced with late 18th-century glazing bar sashes and mid to late 20th-century small-paned metal casements.

The service wing, adjoining to the south east, follows a T-plan, rising two storeys. It is finished with plat bands (the upper course raised), a dentil brick eaves cornice with bricks set on the side, and parapeted gable ends with stone coping to the central wing. A brick ridge stack stands off-centre to the left, a tall square brick ridge stack off-centre to the right, and the wing features a pair of integral brick end stacks.

The left-hand part of the service wing contains two first-floor boxed glazing bar sashes and two ground floor 18th-century leaded wooden cross windows to the left with wrought-iron catches (the left-hand window partly obscured by a later addition in the angle), surmounted by flat brick arches. An 18th-century door to the right has six raised and fielded panels, a pegged frame with double-quirked beading, and shaped brackets supporting a flat hood with a two-panelled soffit and moulded cornice.

The right-hand part has two first-floor boxed glazing bar sashes, a blocked ground floor window to the left, and a sash to the right, later cut down to form a door (visible from straight joints in the brickwork). The central wing, probably of late 18th-century date (evidenced by straight joints), features two gables to the front and two first-floor boxed glazing bar sashes. The left-hand return front contains a blind first-floor window painted in imitation of a sash and a ground floor 20th-century three-light casement; the right-hand return front has a first-floor boxed glazing bar sash of sixteen panes and two ground floor segmental-headed leaded wooden cross windows.

The rear of the service wing exhibits a plat band and dentil brick eaves cornice across seven or eight bays. The first floor has boxed glazing bar sashes throughout, whilst the ground floor displays mid-18th-century wooden cross windows to the left and late 18th-century glazing bar sashes to the right. A two-storey 19th-century addition occupies the angle between the main block and service wing.

Interior

The house retains largely complete mid-18th-century fixtures and fittings of considerable quality. The entrance hall is finished with dado panelling, windows with moulded architraves and panelled shutters, and a moulded plaster cornice. A three-flight rectangular-well oak staircase to the right has landings, an open string with cut brackets, and moulded nosings. The balustrade features column-on-vase balusters, each tread with a central unfluted column on a plain vase flanked by barley sugar columns on wreathed vases, with a ramped moulded handrail wreathed to a fluted Doric columnar foot newel. The balustrade returns to the landing. A ramped 18th-century dado with panelled dies is also present. A dog-leg oak back staircase with winders has a closed string, column-on-vase balusters, a moulded handrail, and a square foot newel post.

The left-hand ground-floor room is finished with a moulded plaster cornice and contains a fireplace with a marble slip, lugged architrave with egg and dart enrichment, frieze and dentil cornice. A back corridor retains partly fluted plain panelling.

Setting and Historical Context

The house stands, together with a former coach house, within a moated site. The building is notable for its complete mid-18th-century interior, which constitutes one of its principal features of architectural and historical significance.