The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory is a house that was formerly a rectory, built in 1906 and designed by Sabine Baring-Gould. It is constructed of stone rubble with slate hung on the first floor and features a slate roof with sprocketted eaves that are gabled at the ends. The building has rendered stacks on the ridge and is designed in the Arts and Crafts style. It has a double depth plan with a rear wing, is two storeys high with an attic, and has a symmetrical five-bay front.

The front features deep coved eaves surrounding a central two-storey gabled porch, which has a swept slate canopy supported by timber brackets. The pointed arched half-glazed front door is set in a chamfered stone architrave, and there is a four-light casement window with six panes per light above the porch canopy. To the left, there is a glazed lean-to addition with a slate roof, while the ground floor windows to the right are three-light casements with eight panes per light. On the first floor, there are three-light casement windows with six panes per light on either side of the porch. The long attic dormers each have three-light casements with four panes per light.

Inside, the house features contemporary six-panel doors, cornices, and a staircase with turned balusters. There is one Adam style chimneypiece, which is said to have been brought from Lew House, now known as the Manor Hotel. Sabine Baring-Gould was both the squire and parson at Lew Trenchard from 1881 until his death in 1924. He was a High Churchman, an antiquarian, and a prolific author of both fiction and theological works. In 1906, Coombe Trenchard was built on the site of the former Rectory, and Baring-Gould constructed this house closer to the parish church.