The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory is a storeyed house of an L-shaped layout, with a lower service range attached to the south. It was built using squared, coursed slate-stone blocks and has a renewed slate roof with modern bargeboards. There are two chimneys, one positioned between each section of the house. These chimneys have two stages, with curious dentilated ornament in three courses to the upper part, and plain cornice bands.

The symmetrical front (east) of the main block features a raised ground floor on a chamfered plinth. A single-storey porch is centrally positioned and accessed by four slate steps. This porch has a depressed-arched opening with a projecting, shaped keystone and imposts, topped with a flat roof, plain cornice and parapet. The original four-panel door has a renewed, moulded architrave and modern glazing to the upper two panels. Above the porch is an original sash window with distinctive diagonal glazing bars, a projecting slate cill and a simple returned label. Larger, similar windows flank the porch on both the ground and first floors.

On the south side, a two-light tracery window with trefoil heads (similar to those found at Gwydir Castle) is rendered in oak, with six panes of glass to each light. Above this, there is a 12-pane casement with a near-flush returned label. A two-storey rubble service wing, apparently contemporary, adjoins the south side. This wing contains early 20th-century twenty-pane French doors, with an original 16-pane casement above, a small 19th-century eight-pane casement to the right, and modern windows to the rear. Further south, along the same wall of the main block, are two more tracery windows matching those previously described, positioned on each floor.

The rear (west) face includes a storeyed lean-to-style porch, placed between the north and longer south piles. This porch has a chamfered Tudor-arched entrance with a modern boarded door. A modern single-storey kitchen extension partially overlaps to the right. Large sash windows with diagonal glazing are found at the gable end of the north (shorter) pile. To the left and above that, on the ground floor at a height of 2.5 metres, are builders’ graffiti inscribed ‘WD WH EW 1842,’ presumably referring to the completion date.

The interiors are simple, with plain cornices. The main ground-floor rooms have late Regency-style reeded slate fireplaces and panelled window reveals. A simple single-flight staircase features stick balusters, a plain string and a painted mahogany handrail.