The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory is a large house, originally a rectory, dating back to the 17th century, with alterations made in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is timber-framed and partly plastered, with areas of pebbledash and colourwashing. The roof is tiled, with M-shaped gables to the north and south, moulded eaves, and a central brick chimney stack with a cruciform plan. A Welsh slate double roof covers the west range.

Originally, the east range was built in a three-bay lobby entry plan, while the west range was rebuilt between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The east range has three windows that sit almost flush to the wall, with a casement window on the south elevation. The north elevation features a sash window and a six-panel door. The door has raised and fielded lower panels, with the lowest two being flush, and it is set within an architrave surround with a diagonally divided fanlight and a flat moulded cornice doorhood supported by cut brackets with moulded modillions. The south elevation has two tall twelve-pane sashes, and a lower nine-pane sash with a flush-panelled lower section that serves as glazed doors. A mullion and transom casement is on the ground floor of the north elevation, while a large casement bay window with French casements and a fishscale tiled roof is on the south elevation. The east elevation has eight-pane sashes on the first floor and a projecting 19th-century porch extension and a lean-to conservatory on the ground floor. A single-story lean-to has been added to the west end.

Inside, the sitting room in the south of the east range features panelling with fielded lower panels, a moulded dado rail, and larger panels above, along with a moulded cornice. A panel above the fireplace has a raised and fielded design with a bolection roll moulding. Adjacent to the fireplace is a recessed cupboard with scalloped-edged shelves, a dresser with a wide recessed panel drawer, and a small drawer at the left, all resting on cut-profiled splat legs and twin three-panel outer doors. The staircase, from the early to mid-18th century, follows a dogleg design with a moulded close string, a newel with an ogee pendant, balusters with barleysugar twists between urns, and a moulded handrail. First floor bedrooms in the east range have bolection moulded surrounds. A winder staircase leads to the attic and likely originally extended down to the ground floor. The south attic contains an early 19th-century cast-iron gate within an 18th-century pilaster surround, complete with bold cornice mouldings beneath a mantelshelf. The attics also contain simple four-panel plank doors and strap hinges.

The roof structure has late medieval elements, including halved and pegged rafters with carpenters’ marks and butt purlins housed within the principal rafters. Some early timber structure, including a west gable at right angles to the east wing, can be seen in the roof void. The west wing’s roof is generally of sawn rafters with a low-pitched Welsh slate covering.

Historically, Old Rectory served as St Andrew’s Rectory until about 1860. It originally had a multiple-gabled south elevation, as illustrated in an engraving from 1784, but the west range was rebuilt during the incumbency of Rev. White, between 1825 and 1829.