The Old Vicarage

The Old Vicarage is an early 19th-century former vicarage with a possible earlier cob core, extended in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The rear service wing features cast-iron tiles patented by Elias Carter of Exeter, a rare surviving example of this early 19th-century roofing material.

The building is constructed of cob with later extensions in stone and brick, all rendered. The chimney stacks are rendered brick rising from a slate roof. The rear service wing has the distinctive cast-iron tile roof. The plan is L-shaped on an east to west alignment, with a service wing extending to the rear and a cellar beneath the south-west corner.

The main house is two storeys with a hipped roof. The west front elevation comprises three bays: a central ground-floor entrance with a 1970s flat-roof porch containing French windows, flanked by bays with six-over-six sash windows. The first floor has three sash windows with three-over-six glazing and venetian shutters. The north elevation has two bays with tripartite sash windows on each storey. The south elevation of the front range features a canted bay with late 19th-century casement windows, a contemporary first-floor window, and a lateral stack on the east return. The rear range south elevation includes two bays with a door, sashes, and an early 21st-century timber window. The east elevation has two first-floor casement windows. The hipped slate roof carries a stack over the centre and another rising from the north pitch.

The rear service wing is attached to the east side, featuring three cast-iron windows with diagonal casements on the south elevation overlooking the walled garden, and a timber veranda on the north side facing the yard. Its shallow-pitched cast-iron tile roof sits on a timber frame of later construction. Two interior rooms are divided by good-quality waney-edged boarding. Three panelled doors sit beneath the veranda with double-panel doors at the west end connecting to the main house. A single-storey lean-to is attached to the north, containing an enclosed well, wood-store, and outdoor toilet beneath a clay-tile cat-slide roof. A stone wall with gate posts bearing ball finials adjoins the outbuildings.

The early 19th-century interior plan remains largely unaltered. The central hallway contains an open-string stair with stick balusters, mahogany handrail, and curtail steps. Much joinery dates to the early or mid 19th century, including four and six-panel doors, architraves, skirting boards, alcoves, and shutters (mostly painted shut). The front room south of the hall retains an early 19th-century fireplace, while the opposite room has a later fireplace. The rear reception rooms on the north side feature a marble fire surround. The kitchen, positioned to the rear on the east side, contains timber cladding and a large granite fireplace with a substantial oak bressemer (likely a 20th-century replacement). Large stone slabs form the floor, and an enclosed winder stair with timber-plank door occupies the south-east corner.

The first floor retains most early 19th-century panel doors with moulded architraves and shutters, along with some 19th-century fireplaces including a further marble chimney piece. The plan remains substantially unchanged, though a few doors have been blocked. The roof retains a substantial proportion of early to mid 19th-century timbers.