The Rectory

The Rectory, formerly the vicarage, is a house built in 1836 by J. Cock of South Molton for Joseph Thorne, the incumbent from 1835 to 1871. The building is documented in the Devon Record Office.

The structure is constructed of stone rubble, colourwashed and plastered to the main elevations, with roughcast to the rear. It has a slate roof spanning two sections and hipped at the ends, with two stacks to the left end and internal lateral stacks to the right serving the principal rooms. All stacks feature rendered shafts and moulded cornices.

The original plan remains largely preserved. The main block faces west and extends in double depth, with the south elevation overlooking the garden. A service wing adjoins at the north. The entrance leads into a deep entrance hall, with a study to the left (the stair rising behind it) and a dining room to the right. The rear contains a drawing room on the right, kitchen on the left, and a store room or gun room in the centre. The north wing houses a back kitchen with a stack positioned back to back with the main kitchen stack, a game larder, pantry and service stair.

Externally, the building is remarkably intact. It is two storeys high with a symmetrical three-bay west-facing front elevation, all features original. Deep eaves are carried on shaped, paired eaves brackets. Left and right pilasters bear incised Greek ornament. A seven-bay paved cast iron verandah with a hipped slate roof extends across the front, supported on decorated cast iron uprights with decorated cast iron segmental arches. The central arch is wider, and the verandah returns to the south and extends across the south elevation, which is similar but of four bays with an eight-bay verandah.

The principal entrance features an original 19th-century front door with upper panels replaced by glass, narrow half-glazed panels to either side, and a narrow entablature with Greek key ornament on four fluted timber colonnettes. The elliptically arched fanlight above preserves original 1836 painted glass with decorative glazing bars. The left-hand bay contains a transomed French window with margin glazing. The first floor on the left and centre features two original 19th-century twelve-pane hornless sashes with eared architraves. Blind recesses in the right-hand bay, which contains an internal lateral stack, match the windows on the left.

The south elevation overlooking the garden contains four original French windows and four first-floor hornless sashes, with a central pilaster in addition to the outer pilasters. The east (rear) elevation preserves its original sash windows, though a smaller, possibly 20th-century window occupies the ground floor. The service block adjoining the north elevation bears a date plaque of 1836 inscribed with the initials J.T. for Joseph Thorne. Its fenestration, including windows to the pantry and game larder, is original except for two 20th-century first-floor timber casements.

The interior is very complete. Original joinery includes doors, doorcases, shutters and skirting boards throughout. A stick baluster dog-leg stair with ramped wreathed handrail is preserved in its original form. Original marble chimney-pieces survive in all principal rooms except the study, with more modest examples on the first floor. Original plaster cornices are preserved throughout, including one combined with a ceiling frieze in the drawing room.

This is a remarkably complete 19th-century rectory, still owned by the Church of England and preserving its original garden, vegetable garden walls and stables—a rare survival of this building type and period.