The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory, Purleigh

The Old Rectory at Purleigh was designed by the architect Frederick Chancellor for the Reverend Dr Edwin Hatch and built in 1885. The building is constructed of red brick laid in English bond with tiled roofs.

The rectory is rectangular in plan with two storeys and an attic. The ground floor has exposed red brick laid in English bond, while the first floor is tile-hung in alternate plain, fish-scale and geometric styles, with a corbelled and moulded brick string course marking the change in treatment. The gable roof has plain tile covering and cresting, with five chimney stacks positioned at various points. Three dormers appear on the roof: two on the rear pitch beneath oversailing hipped slate roofs with slender finials, and one on the front of the same design. A larger dormer on the front is set beneath a gablet and contains a row of five leaded lights with mullions, with timber work above in the apex.

The south-facing facade is accessed by a path and gate leading to the adjacent Church of All Saints. An off-centre porch with pent roof has a central pointed arched opening flanked by windows with moulded mullions, transoms and leaded lights. The main door beyond is a tudor-arch design with decorative strap hinges and eight small lights in the upper part. To either side are casement windows with mullions beneath segmental brick heads with enlarged keystones. At first floor, a gable projects forward to the left of the door with decorative timber work in the apex. Above the porch, the stair window has a central arched panel with shaped panes above, moulded transoms and mullions, flanked by two casement windows with leaded lights and stained glass.

The west elevation features a hipped projection to the left with slender finial, and the principal gable roof behind displays decorative timber in the apex with mullion windows on either side of the stack. The rear elevation comprises a polite range to the right with an off-centre main door featuring stained glass including a central coat of arms, flanked by two single pane casements, and a row of five casement windows with moulded mullions and transoms further to the left. Above the entrance are three single casements interspersed with timbered panels. To the east, the service range is lit by two casement windows on the ground floor and a large casement window above. A single storey outbuilding with crested gables to the north and east adjoins the east elevation beneath a pent roof, with a moulded brick chimney stack rising from it. The outbuilding originally contained the scullery, knives room and an earth closet, with the service entrance to the left. The principal gable has timber work and a small canted window of four casements projecting.

Interior

The internal arrangement remains largely unaltered since construction, with only minor changes to ancillary spaces on the ground and first floors. The parish room at the front of the house survives. All rooms except for a bedroom on the first floor retain their original fireplaces and deep cornices. Doors and joinery remain throughout, as do the service stairs to the first floor and attic spaces, complete with their small fireplaces. The hall forms the focal point of the house, containing an open well staircase with turned balusters, carved newels and moulded handrail. At the half landing is a built-in settle which, viewed from the ground floor, resembles a pulpit. The hall retains a carved wood and stone fire surround bearing the date 1885 on a central stone plaque with foliate motif.

History and Building

The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1873 shows the former rectory on this site, associated with the extant walled garden and stable building, now used as a garage. In 1883, Frederick Chancellor designed a replacement rectory for the Reverend Dr Edwin Hatch, who took the living at Purleigh that year. Dr Hatch was a noted theologian with an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography who wrote the hymn 'Breathe on me, breath of God' at the rectory and taught his own form of liberal theology widely. The building was finished around 1885 and has been very little altered since construction.

An article in The Building News of January 1887 names Messrs Saunders and Son of Dedham as the builders and gives the cost as £2,200. The accompanying sketch suggests that the upper casements originally had leaded lights, now replaced with single panes. Chancellor's building plans and photographic evidence dated 1900, held in the Essex Record Office, confirm that the architectural treatment and plan-form of the building remain largely intact.