The Old Vicarage

The Old Vicarage is a house dating from 1870 to 1871, designed by William Burges for Sir John Heathcoat-Amory. It is constructed of squared stone rubble with ashlar dressings, likely of Ham stone, and has a tiled roof. Two large, symmetrically placed chimneys of squared stone rubble rise from the ridge. The house is in the Gothic Revival style.

The plan comprises a 4-square main block with a narrow central entrance and stair hall. A wing originally containing a larder, kitchen, and scullery extends to the rear, on the left.

The house is single-storey with a garret. The front elevation has three windows across. A chamfered doorway with a pointed arch leads to a recessed 6-panel door with sidelights. To the right is a 5-light mullioned and transomed bay window with square sides and a pent roof. To the left is a 4-light mullioned and transomed window. Three dormer gables, each of 2 lights with chamfered copings and kneelers, are above. All windows have plain, unmoulded stone surrounds and small-paned glazing with margin-panes, the glazing bars being of iron. The side elevations feature windows similar to those on the front.

The interior is relatively plain, but retains the original deal dog-leg staircase with a patterned balustrade, panelled doors with chamfered panel frames, and chimney pieces. These features include chamfered stone surrounds and mantel shelves, with segmental-headed openings downstairs and flat openings upstairs. A seventh chimneypiece is reported to have been moved to the coach-house at Knightshayes. On the upper floor, the rear left-hand room has a round-arched cast-iron grate, likely original. The right-hand front and back rooms have narrower, rectangular iron grates with reeded surrounds and sliding shutters to regulate the draught; flanking these grates are panels of brown glazed tiling. These grates are believed to be original, although they appear somewhat later.

Historical documentation includes a building history written on two sheets of vellum by WH Askwith, the licensed curate of Chevithorne Chapel. He reports that the vicarage was built at his request by Sir John Heathcoat-Amory of Knightshayes between 1870 and 1871, at a cost of approximately £700.