The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory is a house, originally the Rectory, dated 1847. It is constructed of local stone rubble with Bath stone dressings and has slate roofs with stone-coped gable ends. The stacks are of stone rubble with weathered caps. The building is of Jacobethan style.

The architectural plan is based around a central entrance hall leading to a stair hall. To the right of the garden front are a drawing room and a dining room, while to the left are a study and a pantry. A lateral passage separates the service rooms at the rear from the main house, leading to the back door and the kitchen.

The house is two storeys high with a cellar. The asymmetrical front entrance features a two-storey gabled porch with a moulded four-centred arch doorway, shields in the spandrels, and panelled double doors. A three-light mullion and transom window sits above the doorway, with a shield in the gable. A recessed datestone is to the left, and a two-light ground floor mullion and transom window and a single light window are to the right. A projecting lateral stack with truncated shafts is located to the right of the window.

The right-hand garden front has three bays, the left-hand bay projecting with a two-storey canted stone bay with a brattished cornice and stone mullion transom windows. The remaining two bays have eight-light mullion transom windows with hoodmoulds. The left-hand return front is asymmetrical, with a gabled projection, a shield in the gable, and a mix of mullion windows, a small gable, and a chamfered four-centred arch doorway leading to the basement. An open timber bellcote over a rear wing has a hipped roof with a wrought iron weather vane. The rear elevation features two gables to the right, a four-centred arch doorway to the left of centre, and stone mullion windows arranged asymmetrically. All windows have ovolo moulded mullions and transoms.

Inside, an oak open-well staircase has a closed string, stick balusters, chamfered square newels with moulded caps and pediments. The drawing room contains an original chimneypiece, a moulded plaster cornice, and sliding window shutters. A Jacobean-style chimneypiece, moulded plaster cornice, and window shutters are found in the dining room. The study has a black marble chimneypiece and a moulded plaster cornice. The kitchen has a large open fireplace with two bread ovens, one brick-lined with an iron door and the other a clay cloam oven. The first floor was not inspected.