The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory is a large house, originally a rectory, dating from the late 16th to early 17th century. It was significantly altered and enlarged in 1706 for Reverend William Smith, the Rector of Melsonby, and further modified in 1789. The building is constructed of rubble with ashlar dressings and has Westmorland slate roofs. It is two storeys high, with a basement and attic, and has a double-depth plan, originally comprising seven bays.

The east elevation has a chamfered offset plinth and chamfered rusticated quoins. The central bay features a part-glazed door within an elaborate architrave; the doorcase is adorned with acanthus bells on pilasters, capitals featuring raised triglyphs and guttae with gadrooning, and a cornice topped with a broken pediment containing a worn cross, possibly from the church. The windows are 15-pane sashes, originally mullioned with transoms; the window above the door is wider and has a bolection moulding on the architrave and early to mid-18th century glazing bars. Corniced ashlar stacks are located at the left end and between the sixth and seventh bays. The roof is half-hipped on the left side.

The rear elevation is three storeys high with four first-floor windows. A board door in a chamfered ashlar surround sits between the first and second bays, and another board door is found in the fourth bay, both within architraves. Sash windows with glazing bars exist throughout the rear, formerly cross windows like those on the front. A two-storey service range, dated 1784, was added to the left.

The left return is divided into a 1789 range and an earlier section (late 16th to early 17th century, rebuilt in 1706). The 1789 range has windows in raised ashlar surrounds, including a sash with glazing bars on the ground floor and a side-sliding sash with "1789" inscribed on the lintel on the second floor. The earlier range has a blocked mullion window on the ground and first floors. The right return is four storeys high, with basement windows that were formerly flat-faced mullioned, and a mix of sashes with glazing bars and earlier blocked mullion windows.

Inside, a ground-floor room to the right of the main entrance has deal fielded panelling, shutters, an eared and shouldered overmantel with a dentil cornice, and an open well staircase with turned balusters. A portrait of Reverend William Smith, along with a document detailing its provenance, is also present within the house. The document records that the portrait was to remain in the rectorial house, of which Reverend Smith had built the east front and north-east end in 1706.