The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory is a house located in Church End, Foulness, with origins dating from the late 17th century to early 18th century. It features a brick facade with gault brick and has a hipped grey slate roof. The building is two storeys high and includes a rear chimney stack, along with a moulded eaves cornice. The front has a three-window range of small paned vertically sliding sashes, with gauged brick arches and tall ground floor windows on both the front and left return.

There is a central enclosed flat-headed porch with a stone band and cornice, a tall window at the front, and a part-glazed door on the left return. Until this century, the island lacked a fresh water supply, and a water cistern, supplied from the roof, is located at the rear of the building.

Inside, notable features include a kitchen dresser with shelves and drawers, servants' stairs leading from the kitchen, and a small cellar. The house has four-panel doors with moulded surrounds throughout, a stick baluster staircase with a wreathed handrail and landing rails, and moulded cornices in the main rooms. Some windows have shutters, and there are panels below others, which now have cills but were likely designed for vertical shutters. Moulded wainscots are present, and there are shutters on the glazed front door. Some original bedroom cupboards remain, along with a black marble fire surround.

In the old kitchen, there is a stop-chamfered bridging joist and a fireplace featuring an iron range named "The Larbert" from Renfrew, Scotland. Historical documents indicate that 280 of these ranges were shipped monthly from Scotland to the south of England. Next to the range is a bread oven with a water cistern underneath. Additionally, there is a four-board door with a moulded surround and a small canopy on brackets, equipped with an original wooden box lock adorned with iron bands and cut-out quatrefoils.