Benington Bury And Peterscourt

The building comprises a rectory, later divided into two houses named Benington Bury and Peterscourt. It was originally built in 1637 for Nathaniel Dod, the rector, as evidenced by a date panel on the porch and an inscription in the church chancel. Extensions were added around 1680, and further alterations occurred in the mid-19th century for Reverend Haggard. The property was sold in 1914 and renamed Peterscourt. It was known as The Bury in the 1950s and subsequently divided into two dwellings in the 1980s.

The building is constructed of red brick, with the front plastered and stone dressings to the 19th-century work. It has steep red tile roofs. Originally designed as a two-story house with attics, it follows a central-chimney, lobby-entry plan with two main sections facing east. The front features a symmetrical design with a two-story porch, two gables with moulded parapets and finials at the apex and feet, and mullioned wooden windows with labels. A moulded string runs along the ground floor, and there is a plain bond below the front parapet. Ovolo-moulded mullioned and transomed windows are present. The first floor contains cross-windows, some replacing 18th-century sash windows (as documented in a drawing by Buckler in the Hertfordshire Record Office from 1832). The porch has pilasters on bases, supporting an entablature with a swelled frieze and a triangular pediment. Chanelled rustication simulates quoins in the upper part. A six-panel, ovolo-moulded, battened oak door is set within a heavy, chamfered frame.

A north wing, likely dating to around 1680, extends the front by a further gable, with minor variations. Timber-framed walls on either side of the main staircase suggest that the north wing may have been part of the original plan. A rear wing, also from 1680, contains a parlor and staircase. The original front range was maintained when the south end and rear were altered and extended in the 19th century using red brick in a lancet-Gothic style, with chimneys rebuilt.

The interiors of the main range are of good quality, featuring four-centred chamfered red brick fireplaces in the hall and chamber above, an oak staircase with square newels and pendants, and table-leg balusters on the landing.