The Old Rectory And Walls Enclosing Garden To North East

The Old Rectory, now a dwelling, was built in 1836 with minor alterations around 1900. It is accompanied by walls enclosing what was formerly a kitchen garden to the north-east. The building is constructed of random rubble with brick dressings, featuring a hipped slate roof with boarded eaves and a large brick stack where it joins a lower, separately roofed service wing, also with a hipped slate roof of a steeper pitch. The main block is arranged with a double pile, containing a wide hall with a top-lit stairwell and one room on either side. The plan includes a service wing.

The main elevation has two storeys and three bays, displaying pilaster quoins and projecting central bay as well as full-height segmental-headed recesses to the outer bays. It has 16-pane sash windows and a central Doric porch with wooden columns on granite and brick blocks, a pilaster doorcase, and handsome double doors of six panels each. A first-floor oriel window was inserted into the main block around 1900 on the left return. The service wing features two storeys and three bays, with 3-light wooden casements with pointed arch head lights and a slate roofed gabled porch with a ribbed door and three pointed arch heads above a rectangular light. A similar pattern of fenestration is found on the rear elevation of the service wing.

Inside, doorways have reeded surrounds, and panelled doors are fitted with c.1900 finger plates. A 1930s chimney piece is present in one room, alongside a c.1900 room featuring original shutters in both rooms. Recessed areas with depressed segmental heads are found against both exterior walls. The staircase is stick-balustraded, with an open string and ornamented ends which extend as a decorative frieze along the landing, formerly lit by an oval, panelled skylight which has since been altered and boarded over. Some original marble chimney pieces and cast iron grates remain on the upper floor, including an ornate cast iron hob grate in a bedroom in the south-east corner of the service wing.

The garden walls, dating to around 1836, are constructed of random rubble local stone with a slate and cement humpback coping. They return from the north-east corner of the Old Rectory and enclose about half an acre. The walls incorporate pilaster buttresses and pointed arch openings in the north and south walls. The elevation of the Rectory is similar to that of Parnacott, though the connection between the two houses is unclear. According to White’s Directory of Devonshire, the rectory was built in 1836; the early 20th century renovations were likely undertaken by the Rev Donaldson, who served as the incumbent from 1903. The rectory was sold by the Church Commissioners in 1977.