The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory is a house, originally a rectory, dating back to circa 15th century, with significant extensions and alterations in the late 17th and 18th centuries, and further remodelling in the 1860s. The building is constructed of stone, partly faced in red brick, with a clay plain tile roof and gabled ends, along with brick axial and gable-end stacks.

The original plan comprised a three-bay 15th-century house on the west side, incorporating a two-bay open hall to the left, a one-bay solar to the right, and a narrow bay between. A service wing originally stood on the left (west) but is now missing. In the late 17th century, the hall was floored, and a chimney stack was built in the narrow bay. The main range was extended to the right (east) and a wing was added behind the hall during the late 17th or early 18th century. A stair hall was inserted at the back in the 19th century, and in the 1860s the front elevation was brick-faced, and a wing was added to the back of the right end.

The south front has an asymmetrical two-by-three window arrangement; the left-hand side has a steeper roof and lower eaves. It features brick modillion eaves and a moulded brick string course, with corbelled segmental arch window canopies. It has wooden chamfered mullion-transom windows with two-light sashes on the first floor, and three tall windows on the right and contemporary French windows on the left of the ground floor. The rear (north) elevation features a stone wing on the right, a Victorian brick wing on the left, and a hipped stair hall in the centre with a 20th-century porch.

The interior contains 18th and early 19th-century panelled doors, a Victorian main staircase, and reused early 18th-century balusters in the servants’ stairs. There's an early 19th century glazed door and fanlight in the entrance hall, Victorian Gothic chimney pieces, and an 18th-century chimney piece in the east chamber. The rear (northwest) wing has chamfered cross-beams with hollow step stops. An inserted floor in the former hall has a chamfered axial beam with truncated hollow stops and a stack with a wide fireplace with a chamfered timber lintel. The 15th-century roof over the west end of the main range has cambered arch-braced collars and two tiers of tenoned purlins with curved wind-braces, all with hollow chamfers. The open hall bays to the west are heavily smoke-blackened, while the solar bay to the right is clean. A small plastered partition, supported on a collar with birds mouth joints to upper purlins, has been inserted into the west bay of the hall. The tie-beam and collar trusses over the right (east) end of the main range and a late 19th century king-post roof over the rear northeast wing. The roof over the northwest wing was not inspected.