The Old Vicarage

The Old Vicarage is a house, originally built in two phases during the 18th century by Dr Peter Allix, who was vicar of Swaffham Prior from 1712 to 1753. The main part of the house is constructed of pink brick on a stone sill, with red brick dressings and details. Examination of the wall thickness suggests the brickwork is a casing around a core of clunch. The building has a steeply pitched hipped roof, raised and with coved eaves around 1900, and is covered with plain tiles. A projecting stack on the right-hand gable end was enlarged to accommodate a flue for an additional upstairs hearth. The house follows a double pile plan, with two storeys, attics, and cellars. Two gable dormers were added around 1900. The main front elevation features four window bays, with an off-centre doorway. The facade is framed by red brick rusticated quoins and divided by short lengths of moulded banding between the storeys and above each of the ground-floor windows. It has four original sash windows with eight panes each, separated by ovolo moulded glazing bars; the window surrounds are rusticated in red brick. On the ground floor, one similar original window is present, along with two later sashes with twelve panes. The contemporary front door has raised and fielded panels, though the lean-to porch roof, supported on brackets, dates to around 1900. The rear wall has segmental arches over three flush-frame sash windows with twelve panes. A service wing to the left is of a similar date and construction, with pink brick casing on the front and rear walls and red brick dressings, although the gable end wall lacks casing. The ridge and eaves lines of its two parallel, linked gable roofs are lower than that of the main range. A dentil eaves cornice and a restored gable end parapet with kneelers are also visible. End stacks have projecting caps typical of the late 17th or early 18th century. The interior includes a large room with intact raised and fielded panelling, a bolection moulded dado rail, contemporary panelled doors, and a fireplace with an eared surround. The staircase is of four flights and features a closed string, square newel posts, and turned balusters in the form of urns. First-floor rooms have doorways with round-headed arches within square heads, linked by a raised key block. Other original details include doors with H and L hinges. One cellar is brick lined, and one brick is reputedly incised with the date 1721. A bay window was added in the late 19th century.