The Rectory

THE RECTORY, BRADFORD PRIESTACOTT

A house, formerly a rectory. The building underwent heavy remodelling in 1845 of what had originally been a medieval house. The walls are constructed of small stone rubble blocks, partly rendered at the rear. The roof is gable-ended with slate covering and features decorative bargeboards. The right-hand range has three brick chimney stacks—one at its gable end and two axial stacks on stone bases with diagonal shafts. The left-hand cross-wing has a brick stack to its front gable and another at the rear on a projecting rubble base.

The extent of the 19th-century remodelling has largely obscured the plan of the earlier house, though an early window survives in the cross-wing and evidence of an old fireplace in the main range suggests that the basic room arrangement and overall size may not have been radically altered during the 19th-century work. The cross-wing at the left end is two rooms long, each with its own heating. The main range to its right comprises an entrance hall at the left end and two rooms to the right, both accessed by a corridor incorporated into a rear lean-to with service rooms behind and a staircase positioned at the rear of the entrance hall. The cross-wing was probably also extended at the rear in the 19th century, partly for outbuildings or service uses.

The building is two storeys tall with an asymmetrical four-window front. All fenestration dates from the 19th century. The left-hand window sits within the large projecting gable of the cross-wing, which features an oriel window on the first floor with a transomed wooden mullion. Below this extends a projecting stone pier bearing a sundial on its face and incorporating the chimney stack. On the ground floor to either side are single lights with arched heads and dripstone above, with a buttress at either side of this wall. The right-hand range has two three-light casements on the first floor and one on the ground floor to the right, all with stone hoodmoulds that may possibly predate the 19th-century remodelling. At the centre of the ground floor is a canted bay window. To its right, adjoining a buttress, is a small stone slit with ogee bead. A single-storey gabled porch to the left of the bay features a carved heraldic shield and the date 1845 in its gable, with a round-headed doorway containing a 19th-century plank door. Above the porch is a two-light stone mullion window with shouldered arched lights. Some of the casements have been removed in the 20th century, but the window forms remain unaltered. Near the front of the left-hand wall of the cross-wing, a 15th or early 16th-century two-light stone mullion window with four-centred heads survives on the ground floor, possibly partly restored in the 19th century.

Interior features include the front room of the cross-wing, which has 17th-century ceiling joists that are chamfered and step-stopped, though the ceiling is unlikely to be in its original form. Throughout the house the Victorian joinery is very complete and of good quality, incorporating panelled doors, Gothic arches, and chimneypieces. The open well staircase curves round with heavy turned newels topped with ball finials and turned balusters. A stained glass stair window apparently incorporates a medieval shield.

This is a fine example of a high-quality mid-19th-century rectory surviving in a very unaltered state, with the added interest of some earlier remains.