Former Presbytery (36 Victoria Grove) and gateway

Former presbytery to Roman Catholic Church of St Mary and St Catherine, and pedestrian gateway. Mid-C19; house altered and extended in the C20.

MATERIALS: built of stone rubble, flint and red brick, partly rendered, with dressings of ashlar and buff-coloured brick. The roofs are clad in slate with stone copings to the front.

PLAN: the presbytery was formerly attached to the south-east corner of the mid-C19 church and the house incorporates the former vestry at its north-east corner. It is rectangular in plan with a C20 single-storey addition at its south-east corner.

EXTERIOR: the front (west) elevation is of four bays comprising two gabled bays linked by a narrow flat-roofed bay, and a single-storey addition with a flat roof to the right. There are early-C20 parapets with balustrades of quatrefoils to the flat-roofed sections. There is an off-centre entrance with chamfered surround with broach stops and a hoodmould. There is dogtooth decoration to the door case which has a mid-C19 timber door with ornamental hinges, and a fanlight over. The windows are mostly of two-and three lights, some with cusped heads; all have metal casements, hoodmoulds and stone sills. The window to the right-hand bay is transomed, and there is the first-floor window above the doorway has a single light. The left return is blind, having formerly been attached to the church; its north-east corner was rebuilt in brick in the late C20. The rear (east) elevation is much plainer than the front. The ground floor is rendered stone and there is red brick with some dressings of buff brick to the upper half of the building. There are early-C21 uPVC windows to the ground and first floors of the right-hand bay and a small uPVC window to the first floor of the central bay. The ground floor of the south return has uPVC windows to the far right and to the C20 extension, and a timber sash window to the left-hand addition. The first-floor windows are C20 replacements and the one to the right is uPVC. They are set in gablets with decorative bargeboards.

INTERIOR: the mid-C19 internal layout remains largely unchanged except for openings through to the C20 ground-floor additions. There are mid-C19 four-panelled doors, a staircase with turned newels and stick balusters, and original ironwork such as some strap hinges and window catches. The fireplaces have all been blocked and their surrounds removed.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURE: to the front of the house is a pedestrian entrance with ashlar piers and caps and a pair of iron gates with spear finials.