The Old Rectory And Attached Wall

SHENINGTON WITH ALKERTON ALKERTON SP 3642-3742 7/52 The Old Rectory and attached wall GV II* Rectory, now house. Built in 1625 for Thomas Lidyat, chronologer and cosmographer to Henry Prince of Wales. Short rear wing added in 1748. Alterations and additions to rear in 1946 and 1973. Squared, coursed ironstone. Steeply pitched stone slate roof laid to diminishing courses. Stone coped gables with moulded kneelers. Large, partly renewed, diagonally-set stone ridge stacks on stone bases and twin-shafted end stacks. 2-unit plan extended to L-plan by the addition of later kitchen wing. 2 storeys plus attic. 4-window range. Front elevation. Ground floor has a blocked doorway and two 3-light and a 2-light stone mullioned windows with hood moulds and label stops. Similar windows to first floor plus a small rectangular stone framed window. Windows have lead cames and wrought-iron casement fasteners. Ironstone quoins. Chamfered stone plinth. Rear. Entrance off-centre to left has a cambered arched head with hood mould and lozenge shaped label stops. Original oak plank door. Ground and first floor both have 3-light cavetto stone mullioned windows on right. 3 rectangular stone framed windows with hood moulds and label stops at irregular heights mark position of original staircase now existing only from first floor to attic. Lower wing has 2-light stone mullioned windows with hood moulds and label stops. Interior. Original plan of hall and parlour separated by central double fireplace. Each room approximately 17 feet square. Moulded spine beams with stop-chamfers. Moulded stone fireplace in parlour dated 1625 in spandrels. Hall has large fireplace with arched stone head and a bread oven over 4 feet in diameter. Fireplace in bedroom over parlour has moulded jambs and Tudor arch. Early C18 fireplace and bread oven in kitchen. Later staircase leads from hall. C17 stair survives from first floor to attic. Purlin roof. A notable example of regional architecture built for one of the regions most distinguished figures, Thomas Lydyat (1572-1646), rector of Alkerton and a greatly respected writer and scholar in his day. Wall probably C18. Approximately 4 metres high. Finely jointed ironstone with a stone coping. (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: 1974, p421; Wood-Jones, pp151-2 and pp271-3, plates 1b and 16d; VCH: Oxfordshire: Vol IX, pp45 and 50; Oxfordshire Record Society II (1920) 6)

Listing NGR: SP3774342894