The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory, Bridge Hill, St Columb Major

Rectory, built as a bishop's palace, now hotel. Built in 1851 by William White (1825-1900), with few later alterations. The building is constructed in slatestone rubble with limestone dressings, with slate roofs featuring lead rolls to the ridges. The gable ends have raised coped verges. The chimneys are axial stacks in stone ashlar, each with a different design.

The building is planned asymmetrically around an inner courtyard and surrounded by a moat. The entrance is reached through a 2-storey porch, with one bay to the left and three bays to the right. The two central bays form one room, while the bay to the far right is a large room extending along the right side. The principal rooms on the first floor are the library, main hall and drawing room. The rear range contains extensive service rooms with a service stair to the right, while the main stair rises directly in front of the entrance. The building is designed in the 14th century Gothic style.

The asymmetrical front elevation has two storeys with an attic. A gabled porch features one bay to the left, two wide bays to the right and a large gabled bay at the far right end. Chimneys with ashlar shafts of varied designs are positioned axially and at the left end of the front slope. All eaves are decorated with wrought iron brackets. The porch itself is a 2-storey gabled structure with raised coped verges and cross finial, containing a pointed arched doorway with deep mouldings and panelled studded double doors with hood mould. Above is a 3-light window with a 4-centred arch and hood mould.

To the left stands a polygonal tower with louvred windows and pyramidal roof. The bay to the left has 4-light windows at ground and first floor with cusped lights, and a 3-light window with cusped lights above a flat-roofed dormer. The two central bays have weathered buttresses, with 2-light chamfered windows at ground floor featuring paired cusped lights and upper tracery, each with a gable above. The far right bay has two lancets at ground floor and a 5-light window at first floor with cusped lights, tracery, a 4-centred arch and hood mould. Above is a quatrefoil and breather, with stepped raised coped verges and cross finial.

On the left side, a gabled end to the right features a corbelled oriel at first floor, supported by a granite pillar, with a mullion and transom window containing cusped lights and a quatrefoil, sidelights, and a gable with raised coped verges above. At ground floor to the left is a 2-light window. The middle bay has a 3-light mullion and transom window with cusped lights and two quatrefoils lighting the kitchen, with a louvred vent above topped by a pyramidal roof. The two bays to the left have asymmetrical fenestration with cusped 2-light windows at ground and first floor, small gabled dormers above, and a gable at the far left end with a stack on the inner side. The right side displays a 2-light window with hood mould at ground floor to the left, a buttress, and a single cusped light. The first floor has a mullion and transom window with cusped lights and an upper trefoil.

Attached to the rear right is a single-storey outbuilding with a loft, connected to the house by a buttress supporting a hood over an archway. The outbuilding has 20th-century casements and doors with two hipped dormers. At the rear, asymmetrical fenestration at ground and first floor contains cusped and plain windows, with four gabled dormers—the outer dormers being larger—all with 20th-century glazed casements. Set back to the left is the end of the main range, a narrow gable extending three storeys high, with a recessed arch with buttresses at ground floor, a 3-light mullion and transom window at first floor, and a mullion and transom window with cusped lights at second floor.

The interior is equally impressive. The entrance hall has a tiled floor and rises through two storeys, with an arched-brace roof and chimneypiece in the rear right corner. A straight stair without balustrade rises directly in front of the entrance hall across its full width. At the foot of the stair are 20th-century double doors in a tall 2-centred arch, with a 3-light window above containing cusped lights. The room to the right at ground floor was formerly the dining room, now partitioned, with chamfered beams resting on stone corbels. All windows have shutters with fleur de lys strap hinges, some with chamfered rere-arches containing a central wooden pillar. At the far right are two small rooms—the wine cellar and beer cellar. The wine cellar at the front features three-bay arcades with plain stone piers and 2-centred arches, with a brick vaulted ceiling. To the rear of the dining room is the first service stair, which has chamfered piers forming the balustrade with chamfered stone arches. The stair is on an L-plan with a chamfered wooden handrail set on wrought iron struts, retaining some original stencilled polychrome paintwork. The second service stair backs onto the courtyard. The rear service rooms remain intact.

To the left of the entrance hall is the waiting room, featuring a wooden window seat to the front with one stone column bearing ring mouldings, and a stone chimneypiece at the left end.

At first floor, there are varied Gothic-style doors, some with pointed arches and chamfered panels, displaying fine ironwork with sprung catches and strap hinges. The drawing room extends along the right side of the front, with an arched-brace roof supported on stone corbels spanning four bays. It features chamfered wainscot and a dado rail. The central room at the front is a medieval-style hall with a 2-bay roof containing arched-braces, collars and queen struts. A stone chimneypiece occupies the rear, with a gallery featuring a chamfered rail at the left end, chamfered wainscot, dado rail and fine Gothic doors.

The room at the front left is the former library, with a 2-bay roof featuring cranked arched-braces with collars and queen struts, and one row of chamfered purlins. The front window has a central chamfered wooden pier and window seat, with good ironwork to the windows. It retains chamfered wainscot and dado rail. The attic rooms also feature good doors with ironwork. Some first-floor windows contain stained glass.

The Old Rectory retains most of its original internal features, with rooms surviving largely intact and minimal alteration to the original plan. It represents a major work by William White.