The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory is a former Rectory House, dating back to the late 13th or early 14th century. It incorporates a late medieval hall, porch, and parlour, with significant additions and details from the 18th and 19th centuries. The building is constructed of brick mathematical tiles and old tile roofs, with timber framing. It has two storeys and attics, arranged in a loose ‘L’ or ‘H’ shape, with one cross wing; half of the original hall and the porch remain of the earliest plan.

The front elevation, facing the entrance, is constructed with red stretcher and black header bond brickwork. A two-storey 19th-century wing is set on the north gable end, featuring a ground and first-floor tripartite plate glass casement. The central hall has a north parlour gable-end wing with a ground-floor, flat-roofed bay containing a tripartite sash window with glazing bars, and a first-floor tripartite plate glass sash. The recessed hall features a ground-floor three-light leaded casement, two first-floor casements, and a raised and fielded panelled door. Both ranges are hung with mathematical tiles. The south gable wing incorporates a porch leading to the hall and has a ground and first-floor three-light casement. The hall has a half-hipped roof with two inserted stacks, one on the ridge and one off-axis. The south front includes two first-floor sash windows with glazing bars and three attic leaded dormers. The rear of the building has a projecting 18th-century kitchen wing, with an attached bakehouse and stable.

Inside, the domestic hall survives to half its original length, with a single open truss remaining in the roof. This truss features filleted rolls and dogtooth ornament, tied into hall posts with raised tie beams and subsidiary secondary braces running from the principal posts to the raised tie beam. The apex of the arched truss was removed in the 17th century, and the former king post is missing. Traces of trefoil-headed tracery against a dais screen at the north are also visible, and the hall was originally boarded. The original parlour was replaced in the 15th century (although the frame survives). Services, kitchen, and part of the hall beyond the porch were demolished in 1733. Later, the hall was floored and a stack inserted; a late 17th-century stack at the rear remains open, leading to the kitchen. A 17th-century service stair and an early 18th-century turned iron baluster stair with rectangular section newels, rails, and string are also present on the north side. A dentil cornice and fireplace are found in a bedroom, along with early 18th-century raised and fielded panel doors. The building was likely constructed before the Warbleton family moved to Hampshire around 1300, or for the son of the family who was presented as rector in 1315 and died around 1349. It is included on the list at II* grade due to the survival of the timber frame.