The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory is a former rectory dating back to the 17th century, with significant remodelling in the early to mid-18th century and again in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Further minor alterations and additions were made in the mid to late 19th century. The building is constructed of regular coursed limestone with ironstone quoins and dressings and has painted moulded cornices. The double-span tile roof is topped with coped gable parapets to the front overlooking the garden, brick ridge stacks, and an external stack to the rear. It has a complex double-depth U-plan, arranged over two storeys and an attic.

The main front, formerly the entrance front, faces the garden and features a 1:3:1 bay arrangement. The recessed central section projects forward and dates to the late 18th or early 19th century. A 6-panelled door with fanlight is located on the left, set within a painted moulded stone architrave with a keystone. The flanking bays follow a different rhythm above. Sash windows are set within painted stone architraves, some with keystones. The left wing has a tripartite sash with a cornice on the ground floor, while the right wing features a large rendered bay window dating from around 1840, containing a tripartite sash, a flat band, and a pedimental gable. A string course runs between the first floor and the attic. Nine-pane attic sashes are framed by architraves without keystones. A central roof dormer includes 20th-century casements.

An irregular left return range includes an 18th/early 19th century single-storey range set back, with a 20th-century glazed door and two late 19th-century four-pane sashes in block surrounds. A hipped roof covers this section. A small 19th-century one-window range attached to the right return side has a first-floor casement only. An irregular return side has a plate glass sash in a former doorway along with a narrow staircase window.

The rear, now the entrance front, is a six-window range with a gable on the left; the right range is likely from the late 18th or early 19th century. A large stone porch with attached unfluted Doric columns and a pedimented roof is attached to the third bay, and it contains a part-glazed flush 6-panelled door. A mid to late 19th-century brick projection to the left incorporates a partly blocked basket archway with two narrow round-arched sashes, and a similar sash to the right has a brick arch. An external stack is positioned between two 9-pane sashes above. To the right, the ground floor has two old 3-light casements with horizontal glazing bars, stone flat arches, and old shutters. A blocked doorway is also present, and the first floor features sashes with moulded frames. A Gothic curved iron railing is found in the sixth bay. Most of the openings have stone lintels with keyblocks. Two large 19th-century roof dormers are present, one with a horizontal sash and the other with a centre-hung window. A single-storey range to the right has a recessed 19th and 20th-century brick entrance, a plank door and overlight, and 2-light casements with glazing bars. Another section has an old horizontal sash with glazing bars, a stone flat arch, and shutters, along with a blocked doorway featuring a stone lintel and keystone.

Inside, you’ll find an old plank door, 2-panelled and 6-panelled doors, and heavy ceiling beams, some of which are plastered over. A room on the garden front has a simple Gothic plaster cornice. Two rooms have late 18th/early 19th-century Neoclassical fireplaces with painted details. An early/mid-18th century dog-leg staircase features turned balusters and a moulded handrail to the first floor, and cut-out wavy balusters, possibly dating back to the late 17th century, to the attic.