The Old Vicarage

The Old Vicarage is a house apparently built in 1744 for the Reverend Lionel Seaman, with later extensions and alterations. It is two storeys with an attic and basement. The front elevation is constructed of ashlar, and has a symmetrical arrangement of one, three, and one bays, with the central bay slightly set back and quoins visible. Features include a plinth, a ground floor cill band, a cornice, and a parapet with moulded coping. The windows are glazing bar sash windows set within moulded architraves; a keystone is present above the first-floor centre window and the ground floor outer windows, and Gibbs surrounds are used on the ground floor windows flanking the porch. The porch itself was added in the 19th century and is a box structure with Ionic columns to the archway and a pulvinated frieze. A tablet depicting Christ the Shepherd is set into the gable. A modern half-glazed door is now in place. The roof is hipped and covered in stone tiles, with stone chimneys that have moulded capping.

The rear has four windows, many with glazing bars and moulded architraves to the ground floor windows, which are set below the cill band. Basement windows have rusticated surrounds. An angled bay to the ground floor and basement has been added for a chapel. Three hipped dormers are visible on the roof.

Inside, the hall has black cornerstones in the paving, and a mid-18th-century fireplace. The original staircase is unusually sited, featuring three balusters per tread, a heavy handrail, and a ramped dado. A ground-floor room to the west at the back is panelled with a dentil cornice and fretted dado, and has marble cheeks to a ‘Chinese Chippendale’ fireplace, accompanied by a matching frieze and mirror.

An 1820s sketch shows the house as three bays with set-back wings and segmental relieving arches to the windows flanking the porch, suggesting that the current appearance is the result of a later remodelling.