Old Rectory

The Old Rectory, now a house, was built in 1851 by H. Woodyer for T. Gambier-Parry, and has undergone minor alterations in the late 20th century. It is constructed of coursed, squared lias with ashlar dressings, and has a tiled roof. The building has a cruciform plan, with some of the angles being infilled, and stands two and a half storeys high.

The entrance front features a projecting wing to the right of centre, with two windows of two lights, featuring reticulated tracery and hoodmoulds. A low buttress sits between the windows, bearing a cross in low relief within a plaque. A dated cast-iron rainwater head is on the right side, and a single-storey porch with a polygonal head to the arched opening, accessed by one stone step, leads to a boarded door. Shaped bargeboards are present. The main body of the building is set back to the right, with a projecting chimney breast and a square-set buttress. To the left of the wing is a long, six-light mullioned window with a lean-to roof. Originally, there was a wide doorway to the left, with curved braces supporting a wallplate; this has now been replaced with a window. On the first floor, there is a three-light mullioned window with trefoil heads within the projecting wing, and a two-light window with simpler heads in the gable. A chimney is on the right return, and a square-headed lancet window is located above the right-side porch on the main wing, alongside a chimney and a nib on the centre of the stack. To the left of the wing is a square stair tower with two stepped lancets and a single lancet above, rising into a dormer with a pyramidal roof and an iron cross finial. A projection with a lean-to roof is located to the left.

The right return features a rectangular stone bay window with a five-light mullioned window and pierced spandrels to the trefoil heads, along with a hipped stone roof to a smaller bay above. A 3-light mullioned window is set within a hipped stone roof, and a single lancet is in the gable above. A late 20th-century single-storey extension is present on the right side.

The interior features dado lining to ground-floor rooms, except for the drawing room. Ten-panel doors are found on the ground floor, while the first floor has eight-panel doors. The drawing room contains a fireplace believed to date from around 1770, by Bossi of Dublin. This fireplace, originally in Highnam Court, features rococo marble work and was acquired from Venice by T. Gambier-Parry. The bay window is panelled, and one leaf of each set of shutters survives with original hinges, alongside a moulded stone arch and a ribbed barrel vault overhead. Shutters are present to the study and dining room windows, and original stone fireplaces are in the latter. In the dining room, the walls are panelled above the dado, featuring projecting mouldings and a cinquefoil-head to the centre panel above the fireplace. The ceiling is boarded and panelled with moulded ribs.

The building forms a group with the stables, school, church, and Church Lodge, all of the same date.