The Old Vicarage

The Old Vicarage is a house with a core dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, significantly extended and remodelled around 1820-1830, and altered again around 1967. The construction is primarily of flint with brick dressings, with the south-east end entirely brick, all originally colourwashed. The roof is of old tiles, with a hipped form over the south-east end, and brick chimneys are also present. The house comprises two parallel ranges and has two storeys and an attic. The front facade is irregular: the left bay features three-pane sash windows. A gabled projection is situated in the second bay. The remaining bays incorporate sash windows, cross casements, and blind window panels to the right. Two of the cross casements are from the 17th-18th centuries, one retaining original iron fittings. The gabled projection has a front of glazed header brick with red brick and flint rustication, featuring a 20th-century Gothick style double door set within a rusticated four-centred arch. A large pointed-head sash window is located above the doors. Flanking the door and window are panels of knapped, squared, and coursed flint, bordered by narrow plastered flintwork, with flint dripmoulds to the lower panels and open flint pediments to the upper panels. Other areas feature knapped flint panels between the storeys. Sun and Royal Exchange fire insurance plaques are affixed to the front. The garden front has four bays of French doors with Gothick wooden glazing bars, matching a sash window to the ground floor of the second bay, and a matching casement to the first floor on the left. Delicate wrought iron railings are positioned in front of the first-floor doors in bays 2 and 4. A ground-floor projection and balcony with Gothick ironwork and a tented metal roof are found in the third bay. The openings in the left bay have been added in the 20th century. Internally, a fine staircase curves around an apse within the entry projection, displaying stick balusters, a wreathed handrail, and cut scrolls on the string. The south-east room contains two reeded doorcases, and some early 19th-century ceiling cornices are present. A rear room has a Gothick fireplace and a door dating to around 1840-1850, accompanied by a vine trail ceiling cornice from the same period.