The Old Rectory is a Grade II* listed building in the Braintree local planning authority area, England. First listed on 7 August 1952. A Medieval House. 1 related planning application.
The Old Rectory
- WRENN ID
- endless-flagstone-myrtle
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Braintree
- Constituency
- Braintree MP: Sir James Cleverly (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 7 August 1952
- Type
- House
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- The Old Rectory, Church Road, Great Yeldham, CO9 4PT
- OS grid reference
- TL 757 386
- Coordinates
- 52.01848, 0.55953
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Old Rectory is a house dating from the 15th century, with alterations made in the 19th century. It features a timber frame that is plastered and has a roof made of handmade red clay tiles. The main range is two bays long and aligned northwest to southeast, with a three-bay crosswing at each end, all originally jettied to the northeast. There are external chimney stacks on the northwest and southeast sides.
At the rear, there is an 18th or 19th-century extension, a single-storey extension from the 19th century on the northwest side, and a large 19th-century extension to the southeast. The building has two storeys, a cellar, and attics, with a northeast aspect. The entrance features a 20th-century door in a rustic porch topped with a tiled gabled roof. There is one 20th-century bay window and five other windows, all from the 19th and 20th centuries. The jetty of the southeast crosswing is underbuilt. On the first floor, there are two bay windows and two additional windows, all from the 19th and 20th centuries, along with two 19th or 20th-century windows in gabled dormers.
Inside, the main range and southeast crosswing showcase exposed heavy studding, double-ogee moulded joists, and wave-moulded beams, with the beam in the crosswing featuring foliate carving. A small section of the northwest side of the southeast crosswing has exposed original brick nogging arranged decoratively in opposed triangles, which was originally on the exterior but is now enclosed in a later extension. The interior of the northwest crosswing is mostly plastered. The main range and southeast crosswing have fine side-purlin roofs with arched collars and arched wind-bracing. The upper room of the southeast crosswing has been elaborately restyled in the 19th century with high-quality Gothic carpentry and carving. The cellar is constructed of brickwork from the 16th century or earlier.
Local climate
The Old Rectory sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 73% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 30 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 66% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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