Presbytery Adjoining Roman Catholic Church Of The Holy Ghost

The presbytery adjoining the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Ghost was built in 1895 and designed by Father (later Canon) AJC Scoles. It is constructed of red brick with Hamstone dressings and features a red clay double-Roman tiled roof with stone-coped gable ends and brick axial and gable-end stacks.

This Gothic-style house is rectangular in shape with a projecting central bay, facing south onto Higher Kingston. It has two storeys and an attic. The front elevation consists of three bays with a continuous cill stringcourse. The central gabled bay projects forward and includes a large five-light stone mullioned and transomed ground-floor window with cusped lights and a hoodmould. On the first floor, there are two two-light Gothic windows with plate tracery and two-centred arches, along with a cusped lancet window in the gable above. Each return wall of the central bay features a flat-headed, transomed single window at the first floor. The flanking bays are set back; the right-hand bay has a pointed-arched entrance with a recessed doorway featuring marginal lights, along with a flat-arched mullioned and transomed window of two lights under a continuous hoodmould on the ground floor and a matching first-floor window. The left-hand bay has a pair of French doors under a segmental head and a two-light stone mullioned and transomed first-floor window. The rear elevation is simpler and also has a central, projecting gabled bay. Most windows are four-pane timber sashes, except for a dormer in the roof and a modern casement under a concrete lintel on the ground floor to the left.

The interior was partially inspected in 2015. While it is relatively plain, some rooms feature carved fireplaces, several of which display Canon Scoles’ initials and coat of arms, and stone corbels support the ceiling beams.