The Old Vicarage And Attached Railings

The Old Vicarage and Attached Railings

Chippenham, St Mary Street, No. 54

Now a retirement home, this vicarage has probable late medieval origins to its south end, with a date of 1678 recorded on the north chimney-stack. It was refronted in the early 18th century and partly restored around 1929. The building is constructed of limestone ashlar, probably originally timber-framed, with a stone slate roof and ashlar stacks featuring square diagonally-set shafts to the gable ends and a plain stack to the centre ridge.

The plan is a 4-unit through-passage layout with late 17th and early 18th century rear wings, plus a 19th-century rear wing. The exterior presents 3 storeys across an 8-window range. A returned cornice and parapet run above rusticated pilasters to the quoins, with lintel and sill bands throughout. The early 18th-century windows are 6-over-6-pane sashes with thick glazing bars and some old glass, set within moulded architraves. A prostyle Tuscan portico with entablature frames the entrance, which has a cyma-moulded architrave and a raised-and-fielded 6-panel door.

Behind the refronted facade, the steep-pitched roof line of the original building is still visible—the wall plates survive above the 2nd-floor windows to the right of the door, and the original floor level can be seen in the top panes of the 1st-floor windows. An aerial view shows a lead roof spanning the space between the original roof and the new parapet. At the rear, a pair of gabled attics with late 17th and early 18th-century origins retain 3 and 4-light wooden-mullioned leaded windows, restored around 1929. Other rear windows to the wings have moulded architraves to 6-over-6-pane sashes. The 19th-century rear right wing has a splayed bay to its south end. The sloping site creates a semi-basement to the rear, where 20th-century windows have been inserted into former 2-light stone-mullioned ground-floor windows.

The north end contains some late medieval timber-framing to the rear and gable end, with moulded ground-floor beams. Raised-and-fielded panels line the shutters to the front windows. The former through-passage, now the hall, features an early 18th-century dado rail with raised-and-fielded panelling below and a dentilled cornice, together with late 19th-century polychromatic floor tiles. To the rear right stands an early 18th-century open-well, open-string staircase with fretted ends and a moulded, swept and wreathed handrail. The room to the right of the passage contains a moulded axial beam and a large chimney-breast to an open fire with a cyma-moulded architrave. The far-right room displays full-height raised-and-fielded panelling and a blocked fireplace to the rear. The rear right wing holds a 19th-century white marble fireplace and an elaborate cornice. The room to the left of the passage, now used as a kitchen, has ogee-stopped chamfered beams to a panelled ceiling and a former open fire to the gable end, with a barrel-vaulted cellar below.

The early 18th-century rear left wing contains a fully-panelled ground-floor room with a box cornice and fireplace to the left. The 1st floor of the main block has a 19th-century passage along the rear wall with bolection moulding in early 18th-century style, though the cornices do not coincide. Front rooms have a moulded axial beam, early 18th-century box cornices and full-height raised-and-fielded panelling. The 1st-floor room of the left wing, featuring thick glazing bars to 6-over-6-pane sash windows, is panelled below the dado rail with flush timber-framing above, suggesting that tapestry or silk was once stretched across this space. The 2nd floor contains some 17th-century planked doors with fine wrought-iron hinges alongside similar doors made around 1929 with elaborate hinges. One 17th-century oak door frame to the right is cyma-moulded and stopped above the base. Much of the collar-beam roof is exposed, showing sloping trusses below tenoned purlins with a ridge-in-notch. The attic of the 3-bay rear left wing has a similar structure and contains a small 17th-century planked oak door with fine wrought-iron hinges and a wooden lock. The semi-basement beneath the right end of the house, currently in the course of restoration, is barrel-vaulted.

Plain cast-iron railings are attached to the sides of the door and the corners of the house, enclosing narrow forecourts. These railings are finished with cast-iron anthemion finials.