The Rookery

The Rookery is a detached house located in Orcheston St. Mary, dating from the mid-17th century. It was restored in 1753 by George Pitt and has undergone late 19th-century alterations, including the addition of a rear service wing. The building is constructed of flint and limestone, with red brick services and a Welsh slate roof featuring coped verges and brick stacks. It has an L-plan layout and is two stories high, with a two-window entrance front that is set at right angles to the road.

The central porch, added in the 19th century, is made of buff-coloured brick and limestone, featuring a pointed door and a battlemented parapet. The side walls of the porch have pointed windows. To the left of the porch are three-light French windows with hollow-chamfered mullions and a hoodmould, while to the right is a two-light hollow-chamfer mullioned window with a hoodmould. The first floor contains two two-light mullioned windows, each with a hoodmould. All windows are 18th-century casements with margin panes. The left part of the facade is a 17th-century wing, while the right side features the gable of the main range, which has a string course at attic level and a coped verge.

The right return, or east front, has been rendered and remodelled in the 19th century. It includes a basement with a three-light mullioned window, a canted bay with plate glass sashes and a battlemented parapet on the left, and a single sash in a hollow-chamfered surround along with a three-light mullioned window on the right. The first floor has four two-light mullioned windows and a dentilled eaves cornice in brick. There are two dormers with flat heads and casements.

At the rear, the gable of the 17th-century range is on the left, featuring a small sash window on the first floor and a return with a 19th-century sash. To the right is a late 19th-century two-storey service wing built of brick cavity walling, which includes four-pane sashes. The left return from the front has 19th-century casements in the 17th-century wall.

Inside, there is a cellar with chamfered beams that have stops. Some 17th-century fittings include reset wainscot panelling. The ground floor fittings are mostly from the early 19th century, while the first floor features doors with six fielded panels and fireplaces dating from the 1753 restoration, along with the stairs. In the entrance hall, there is a stone tablet with an inscription commemorating the 1753 restoration by George Pitt, Lord of the Manor, which was moved from the attic chimney in the late 20th century.