Leigh Delamere House

Leigh Delamere House is a former rectory dating to 1846, designed by James Thomson for the Reverend J.E. Jackson. The building is constructed of squared rubble stone with an imitation stone slate eaves roof and tall ashlar stacks. It is built in the Tudor style and extends over two storeys.

The south front has a four-shaft ridge stack, a two-shaft stack at the east end, and two projecting gables flanking a narrow central section. A moulded plinth and dripcourse are present. There are mullion windows with hoodmoulds. The central section features double doors with a hoodmould and a single casement window above. The gables have a first-floor three-light mullion-and-transom window and ground-floor projecting mullion-and-transom windowed bays; a square bay is on the left and a canted bay on the right. The left gable projects slightly further than the right.

A north-west rear wing has a two-shaft ridge stack, and adjoining the end gable of the front range, a two-storey gabled porch bay with a moulded doorway and a semi-circular ashlar three-light oriel above. The porch contains two 19th-century plaques: one inscribed “P.K. 1639” (for Rev P. Kingsman) and another “J.E.J. 1846”. To the left of the porch, there is a single light on each floor, the upper light being under an eaves-breaking gable. This is followed by a slightly set-back range of two-light windows. Beyond this is a single-storey service range with a ridge stack and a gable on the west front.

The east front has a slightly projecting gable adjoining the east end of the front range, featuring a square bay and a three-light mullion-and-transom window above. The rear wing has a three-shaft ridge stack and a single-shaft north stack, with a two-window range to the east.

The Reverend J.E. Jackson served as rector from 1845 to 1891 and was the author of ‘A History of the Parish of Grittleton’ (1843) and editor of John Aubrey's ‘Wiltshire Collections’ (1862).