Rectory

Rectory at Buckland

This Grade I listed rectory dates from circa 1480, with significant alterations in the 17th century, mid-19th century, and 1932 by the architect Detmar Blow. The building is constructed of stone approaching ashlar, with an east end cross wing of random rubble and Flemish garden-wall bond brick to a single-storey end. The roof is covered in stone slate, with Welsh slate to the single-storey section.

The building plan comprises a two-bay central hall with cross passage and crosswing to the right, followed by a single-storey wing beyond. To the left lies a two-room block aligned with the hall, with a narrow parallel wing behind.

The entrance front features a plinth and two 2-light mullion and transom windows to the hall with plain chamfer. To the left is a 4-centred arch doorway with boarded double doors and cover strips, flanked by mid-19th-century two-light and 3-light mullion and transom windows with hoodmoulds. The first floor contains a 2-light mullioned window in a stone oriel above the door and another 2-light mullioned window to the left. A parapet gable on the left incorporates a stone gable chimney. Three gabled dormers feature 2-light casements, with chimneys rising from the eaves. The hall's right cross wing projects without a plinth and displays a 2-light mullioned window on its left return, a 3-light window in the gable, and a 2-light off-centre window above. Two chimneys rise from the eaves to the right return, where a brick wing extends further right.

The garden front has a plinth with two tall 2-light mullion and transom windows to the hall featuring hollow chamfer and trefoil heads to the lights. A series of square holes runs across the facade at mid level. A 4-centred headed doorway on the right holds a half-glazed door. Above it sits a blocked window slightly to the left, with a chimney rising from the eaves. A narrow parallel wing projects to the right, displaying a close-studded truss in the gable and the jamb of a former door on the corner. The plinth steps up at the right end, where various blocked slits and windows are visible along with a vertical joint in the wall. A 3-light mullioned window above the left displays trefoil heads, and a parapet gable at the right end carries a stone cross on its apex. The left of the hall shows a projecting cross wing without plinth, featuring a 3-light wooden mullion and transom window with a flat, stone voussoired head and a three-light mullioned window above. A 4-pane window appears on the right return, with a brick wing set back to the left.

The interior retains its 2-bay great hall with a stone-paved floor slightly higher than the flanking ends and plastered walls lined as ashlar to the north. Original shutters survive on the west windows, which contain 15th-century stained glass including a rebus of William Grafton, rector from 1466 to 1483. The hall has no fireplace. The south wall is jettied, constructed of close-studded timber frame with hollow chamfer to the joists below (also visible in the passage beyond). The moulded jetty bressumer and tie beams feature framing in two tiers, numbered. The eaves are moulded, with a hammer-beam truss, curved braces, and applied angels. Two pairs of purlins with curved wind braces complete the roof framing.

Six-panel doors in two tiers lead to the passage, featuring 4-centred arches with leaf carving in the spandrels. A room at the left end has panelled shutters and a mid-19th-century stone fireplace surround with quatrefoils to the corners, sunk panelled jambs, and panelled casing to the ceiling beam. The dining room in the cross wing contains fielded-panelled shutters, window seats, and a fireplace surround cut back in the 19th century. A spiral stone staircase rises from the south of the hall with casement moulding to the door at its head.

A two-bay main room adjoins the hall, featuring a bolection-moulded fireplace surround, fielded panels adjoining a cupboard door, a moulded cornice, and an inserted ceiling beam from the 17th century. Two-panel doors provide access to rooms to the south, subdivided around 1700 from a single room. The attics display chamfered rafters, collar, queen struts, and curved braces to the truss over the main room, with two pairs of purlins and wind braces. The roof to the south has been simplified slightly.

The rectory originally belonged to Gloucester Abbey until the Dissolution. The original building survives as the hall and its southern section. Foundations of a continuation at the same width as the hall to the north have been found below later floors. The cross wing probably dates from the 17th century, with its west half rebuilt in the 19th century.