Archway With Gates And Flanking Walls And Inner, Freestanding Archway To The Old Rectory

ARCHWAY WITH GATES AND FLANKING WALLS AND INNER FREESTANDING ARCHWAY TO THE OLD RECTORY

This is a section of boundary wall with a pair of reused medieval archways forming a carriage entrance to the Old Rectory, constructed in sandstone with wrought iron gates.

The outer arch in the boundary wall is four-centred, formed with voussoirs that are double-chamfered externally and single-chamfered internally. It is supported on its inner skin by a separate, higher arch that is two-centred, springing from imposts. The arch sits within a section of boundary wall built mainly from large, coursed, squared sandstone blocks. The wall is coped with flagstones and steps up over the arch. There are marked butt joints approximately 5 to 6 metres from the archway to both east and west, where the style of the boundary wall changes slightly. The rest of the boundary wall is not included in this listing but falls within the curtilage of the Old Rectory.

The archway is enclosed by a pair of wrought iron gates with the lower section barred and the upper part infilled with scrollwork. These gates are probably 20th-century replacements of earlier ones.

The freestanding arch is ungated and spans the same driveway as the arch through the boundary wall, positioned about 5 metres inside the boundary. It is also four-centred but almost segmental in form. It is formed from voussoirs with a very slight, plain chamfer to both faces.

Both archways are medieval in date, though neither may be in their original locations. The inner freestanding archway has certainly been moved, thought to have occurred in 1928 following its discovery within the structure of a stable undergoing demolition. It is possible that the outer archway remains in its original location.

Local tradition holds that Spofforth House, the Old Rectory, is built on the site of a medieval hospital dedicated to St Mary Magdalene, and that the wall and archway form part of a precinct boundary. However, this claim is unsubstantiated. Although the Old Rectory is mainly 18th-century in date, it is of medieval origin and includes a blocked west-facing window with 14th-century plate tracery. Spofforth does not appear in Bottomley's 2002 gazetteer of medieval hospitals in Yorkshire.

A more probable explanation is that the archway originally formed part of Spofforth Castle, which has been ruined since the mid-17th century following slighting during the English Civil War. It was possibly moved to its current location by a former Rector around 1700 to aggrandise his house.