The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory is a house, originally built as a rectory in 1701 for Reverend Humphry Betty, and altered in the 20th century. It is constructed of coursed limestone rubble, faced with brick, with a plain-tile roof and brick end stacks. The design is based on a two-unit, central-staircase plan. The main south-facing front is brick-faced and has a five-window arrangement. A central six-panel door, with a fanlight and moulded wooden surround, is set within a moulded limestone doorway with a round-arched head and keyblock. The doorway is flanked by narrow brick pilaster strips topped by moulded stone brackets supporting a moulded brick segmental pediment which frames a datestone. The doorway is approached by five stone steps flanked by low, curved, stone-coped walls. The ground and first-floor windows are 12-pane sashes, with stone sills and flat-arched heads. The central first-floor window has a raised brick surround with scrolled feet and cut brick serpentine ornament to the head. Blank rendered panels with panel moulding and flat-arched heads are located on the ground and first floors at either end of the facade. Basement windows are six-pane sashes with segmental-arched heads. The house has a wave-moulded stone-capped plinth, moulded wood eaves with a deep plastered eaves cornice, and three pedimented roof dormers, the central one having a segmental pediment and shaped stone-coped gables with kneelers. A one-and-a-half-storey wing to the rear left, constructed of coursed limestone rubble, appears to be of uncertain date, potentially predating the main structure. The interior features a hall with a bolection-moulded marble fireplace and fine panelling from Streatlam Castle, Durham (demolished in 1933). This panelling is early 18th century, with carved drops to the narrow panels flanking the overmantel and a door to the drawing room, and carved wooden garlands to the overmantel. The drawing room also has a bolection-moulded marble fireplace and handsome early-18th-century panelling from Felling Hall, Newcastle, with Ionic pilasters flanking the fireplace and a round-arched, semi-domed niche to one corner, also flanked by pilasters. An early 18th-century dog-leg staircase, brought in from elsewhere, features a panelled dado and barley-sugar twist balusters. A passage leading to the staircase from the front door is now incorporated into the hall. The first-floor bedrooms have painted wood panelling. The principal bedroom has a bolection-moulded marble fireplace, flanked by Ionic pilasters, with panelling resembling that from Felling Hall, and possibly from the same source. The house ceased to be a rectory in 1935. The panelling was likely installed by Mr and Mrs Peter Wilson, owners from 1949, who were keen furniture collectors.