Presbytery, School Room, Outbuildings, Boundary Walls and Railings

Presbytery, School Room, Outbuildings, Boundary Walls and Railings

A complex of religious and educational buildings constructed in the 1830s for the Catholic parish. The presbytery was built in 1835 and the stable with school room above in 1836, both designed and constructed by the local firm Chapelo and Sons.

The presbytery is a substantial house built in coursed, squared limestone with sandstone dressings to its front elevation, coursed rubble to the rear, and a Welsh slate roof. The building follows a double-fronted, double-depth plan with a central entrance and rear stair hall. The front elevation, facing south east, is approximately symmetrical across three bays and two storeys. Windows are 8-over-8 hornless sashes in plain monolithic stone surrounds. The central entrance features a 6-panel door below a semicircular fanlight with radial glazing bars, all set within a round-arched ashlar surround with imposts and keystone. The elevation is quoined to the right (north east) and abuts the separately listed church to the left, set slightly back from the church's quoining. The gable end is plain coped and has a two-stage ridge stack, with a second ridge stack breaking the symmetry between the south western bays. The rear elevation includes a two-storey extension with a small footprint and flat roof. Other rear windows are multi-paned but are replacement joinery with renewed cills and lintels. The rear gable end is blind.

The interior retains significant original features. The entrance passage and stair hall preserve original joinery, including window shutters and panelling to the doorway reveals. The north eastern first floor room shows evidence of its original use as a reception room through its cornicing and plasterwork. The ground floor south western room now serves as the sacristy for the adjacent church. Later alterations include replacement fireplaces and a fire door wall dividing the stair hall from the entrance passage.

The stable and school form a detached two-storey, two-bay outbuilding to the rear of the presbytery, built of rubble limestone with a stone slate roof. The ground floor originally served as a stable, with a basket-arched cart opening and an enlarged but lower garage opening to the right. A plain doorway leads to the gable end. Above the entrance is a simple stone cross inscribed "Catholic School 1836". Access to the upper floor is via external steps on the north eastern side. The school room itself has a low beamed ceiling and retains a cast iron fireplace flanked by cupboard alcoves to the northern gable. The southern gable contains a small niche, probably originally intended for a cross or statue. The upper room windows are lit by two windows to each side wall with replacement joinery. The northern gable end is blind and retains a ridge stack.

The property is bounded largely by a stone wall. To the north of the presbytery stands a low range of stone-built outbuildings. The boundary between the front garden and the entrance drive to the church is marked by a set of low gothic style cast iron railings incorporating a pedestrian gate.