The Rectory

The Rectory, Peasmarsh

The Rectory is a vicarage combining an original mid-16th century house with substantial extensions undertaken in the 1930s. The north part of the building is the medieval core, a two-bay timber-framed structure that has been encased and extended both to the south and north. The 1930s additions, which do not carry special architectural interest, have transformed the footprint from rectangular to T-shaped.

The original timber-framed section is clad in brown brick in stretcher bond to the ground floor, with cedar shingles covering the first floor. The roof is steeply pitched and hipped with mid-20th century tiles, featuring a gablet to the north and three mid-20th century brick chimneystacks. Of the exposed timber frame, only the north-east corner post is visible externally. The roof includes a brick stringcourse to the south addition. The east (front) elevation displays three irregularly-spaced metal casements with leaded lights; a flat-roofed dormer with shingled cheeks at the south end forms a penticed porch. The rear west elevation similarly features two irregularly-spaced casements. The south addition is constructed entirely of brown brick with one row of headers above every five rows of stretchers.

The plan of the original mid-16th century house comprised a hall to the south with a smoke cavity, a smaller service bay to the north, and two unequal-sized chambers on the first floor, originally open to the rafters. The 1930s alterations introduced first-floor partitions and extended the living accommodation southward as a two-storey range, with a one-storey garage block to the north.

Internally, the entrance porch opens into a hall where the south-eastern corner post of the mid-16th century structure is visible. The adjoining room to the north preserves the original mid-16th century hall, retaining evidence of the smoke cavity shown through dovetail floor joists in the wall plates. The ceiling is fitted with a spine beam having a one-inch chamfer and lamb's tongue stops. An original partition wall divides this space from the north service room, which exposes the wallplate and retains a trimmer indicating where stairs originally rose in the western part of the room. Mid-20th century alterations embedded several studs within the wall, leaving only shuttered concrete replicas visible.

The first floor of the mid-16th century wing originally comprised two unequal-sized chambers. A mid-20th century eastern partition wall created a corridor, bathroom, and separate WC carved from the north-eastern side of the northern chamber. The south-eastern jowled corner post and south gable end are visible in the corridor; the eastern wall displays a face-halved scarf joint in the wallplate, two curved braces, and numerous studs. In the larger southern chamber, the south tiebeam, south-west corner post, and wallplate remain visible, though the ceiling has been heightened. The northern room retains the north-west corner post, western wallplate, and tiebeam of the partition wall. The WC preserves the tiebeam and post to the partition wall and wallplate, while the bathroom contains the remainder of the east wallplate, north-east corner post, and remainder of the north tiebeam.

The attic is of side purlin and queenpost construction with collars and smoke-blackened rafters to the south end. Some original wide floorboards survive. The brickwork to the chimney is entirely mid-20th century reconstruction. The northern end retains the remains of a partition.