The Vicarage

The Vicarage has medieval origins, with substantial reshaping and extension in 1815 and subsequent alterations. It is constructed primarily of local lias stone with squared and cut blocks, featuring Ham stone dressings. The roof is covered with plain clay tiles, some hipped, others gabled, some with copings. Stone chimney stacks are present. The building is arranged in an ‘L’ shape.

The east entrance elevation has two main bays, with a further two bays returning to the side. The south wing features 12-pane sash windows. A 6-panel door with a glazed toplight is set within an open timber and tiled porch in the lower bay. The east return has three 3-light hollow-chamfered mullioned windows with labels and horizontal bar casements, and the east gable features three similar windows, the attic window being 2-light. The west, or garden, elevation, which has four bays, includes chamfered mullioned windows in the first bay, of 3-lights, the lower window having a transome. A composite sash window of 4+12+4 panes is situated in the second bay, with a pair of 15-pane sash windows above, set within the moulded recess of a window dating back to around 1500, complete with a label. The third bay has 12-pane sash windows, and the fourth a slightly projecting chimney stack.

A distinctive early 19th-century angled bay window of two storeys is present on the south end gable, featuring 12-pane sash windows on each face, with the lower centre extended to form a French door, with a porch supported by light metalwork and an ogee metal hood.

Inside, much of the work, including the staircase, dates to around 1815. One room on the west side retains a deep, double-wave moulded beam-and-panel ceiling of nine bays, a relic of a late medieval range incorporated into the north wing, which may have been the solar wing of an earlier house. In the east end, a partition truss exists at first-floor level, separating a room that formerly had an open timber roof; below this is a cambered arched doorway and an inserted fireplace on the south wall, dating to the 16th or 17th century. It is believed that a 4-bay roof of arched braced collar beam construction with 2 chamfered through-purlins to each slope, and 3 tiers of windbraces (the top with curves reversed), lies sealed below a suspected solar. Only the feet of two trusses are visible from below.