The Old Rectory

COMBE MARTIN RECTORY ROAD, Combe Martin SS 54 NE 1/80 The Old Rectory - - II House, formerly the Rectory. Dated 1847. Local stone rubble with Bath stone dressings. Slate roofs with stone coped gable ends. Stone rubble stacks with weathered caps. Moulded string at first floor level and chamfered plinth moulding. Plan: 3 rooms deep. The central entrance hall leads to the stair hall at the centre of the house. To the right on the garden front there is the drawing room at the front and the dining room behind. To the left at the front is the smaller study with a pantry behind. A lateral passage behind the stairhall separates the service rooms at the back from the main house. The servants' stairs at the left end of the passage which changes direction at its right end and leads to the back door between the kitchen at the centre and another room of uncertain purpose on the right. Jacobethan style. Exterior: 2 storeys and cellar. Asymmetrical entrance front with a 2-storey gabled porch at the centre with a moulded 4-centred arch doorway with shields in the spandrels and panelled double doors, and a 3-light mullion and transom first floor window with a hoodmould and a shield in the gable above. To the left a recessed datestone with a hoodmould. To the right a 2-light ground floor mullion and transom window and a single light window above with a projecting lateral stack to their right with weathered set-off and shafts with moulded bases has been truncated. The right-hand return garden front is 3 bays, the left-hand bay is gabled and breaks forward with a 2-storey canted stone bay with a brattished cornice and stone mullion transom windows. The 2 bays to the right have 8-lignt mullion transom windows with hoodmoulds. The left-hand return is asymmetrical; gable to the right breaks forward with a shield in the gable and asymmetrical fenestration to the left of various stone mullion windows, a small gable above and a chamfered 4-centred arch doorway to the basement. An open timber bellcote over the rear wing has a hipped roof with a wrought iron weather-vane. The rear elevation has 2 gables to the right and a 4-centred arch doorway to the left of centre and various stone mullion windows asymmetrically arranged. All the windows have ovolo moulded mullions and transoms. Interior: an oak open-well staircase has a closed string, stick balusters, and chamfered square newels with moulded caps and pediments. The drawing room has an original chimneypiece, moulded plaster cornice and sliding window shutters. The dining room has a Jacobean style debased classical chimneypiece, a moulded plaster cornice and window shutters. The study has a black marble chimneypiece and a moulded plaster cornice. The kitchen has a large open fireplace with 2 bread ovens, one brick lined with an iron door, the other a clay cloam oven. The first floor was not inspected.

Listing NGR: SS5836645873