The Old House

The Old House is an old rectory, now a private house, dating from the late 14th century with 16th and 18th century additions and alterations. The exterior is a mix of materials, including rendered flint and stone rubble with stone quoins, stuccoed brick, and tile hanging on the rear. The roof is steeply pitched, covered in tiles, with brick stacks. The original core of the house is a hall running north-south, with two-storeyed cross wings and a 16th-century building projecting to the north. A two-storeyed stucco facade, dating to the 18th century and altered in the 19th century, was added to the west side and contains corridors behind. This facade features pilasters, a string course, a moulded stone cornice with large finials, and sash windows with glazing bars; the two ground floor south-facing sashes have thick glazing bars. A central, projecting two-storeyed porch has rustication on the first floor, a round arched doorway with a keystone and imposts, and a fielded panelled door within a moulded doorcase. The east side features large sash windows and dormers to the hall, a gabled north cross wing with a 15th-century cusped trefoil-headed single light window facing north, a three-light stone mullioned window and a four-centred arch doorway in the 16th-century projections. A gabled south cross wing and attached projecting porch extend from the south end, linked by a parallel range dating to the 18th century, which is tile-hung on the first floor. A further half-hipped early 19th-century range and outbuilding are situated to the south. Sash windows with glazing bars are found in the 18th and 19th-century sections. The interior is primarily of the early 18th century, with the exception of 16th-century linenfold panelling, refixed on either side of the screens passage. The hall, now a drawing room, has a medillion cornice ceiling and a fine chimney piece. Open well staircases, with a moulded string course, turned balustrade, a hand rail ramped up to the newel post, and fielded panelled dado, are found in each cross wing. The hall roof was rebuilt, but remnants of a king post roof remain in the cross wings.