Old Rectory is a Grade II listed building in the Breckland local planning authority area, England. First listed on 4 December 1951. Rectory. 1 related planning application.
Old Rectory
- WRENN ID
- carved-loggia-soot
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Breckland
- Constituency
- Mid Norfolk MP: George Freeman (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 4 December 1951
- Type
- Rectory
- Address
- Old Rectory, Cranworth, IP25 7SQ
- OS grid reference
- TF 984 045
- Coordinates
- 52.60231, 0.92842
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Old Rectory is a former rectory dating from around 1840, which incorporates an earlier building. It is constructed of limewashed brick and features a black pantile roof with an irregular plan. The building has two storeys and an entrance facade with five bays, where the end bays are slightly taller. The windows are sash style with glazing bars and are set beneath skewback arches. On the south side, there is a tripartite sash window that is mirrored by a former tripartite window to the north, which has been converted into French windows. The front door is off-centre, consisting of two leaves and part-glazed, sheltered by an open porch supported by a pair of unfluted Doric columns. The eaves are wide on all sides of the house, featuring renewed shaped and paired brackets.
The south facade includes a large two-storeyed canted bay with six sash windows, also with glazing bars beneath skewback arches, and a single-storey rectangular projection with a slightly segmental front. This projection has three blind windows with skewback arches, a moulded cornice, and a loop balustrade. The north facade has five bays of sash windows (two of which are blind), along with an oculus and a smaller sash window at the western end. The building features lead downpipes with moulded hoppers and several prominent chimney stacks. Services are located around a courtyard at the rear.
Inside, there is a dining room screen supported by a pair of Ionic columns, along with some fine plaster cornices derived from Greek styles. The first floor has plaster vaulted rooms, mainly with three-centred barrel vaults, notably integrating the canted bay from the south. The main staircase is swept, with twisted balusters and a rope-twist handrail. Additionally, there is a surviving glebe terrier with drawings.
Local climate
Old Rectory sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 730 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 79% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 95% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 32 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 59% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 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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- No EPC on record for this property
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2011
- 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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