The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory is a two-and-a-half-storey house designed in the style of Norman Shaw, dating to 1885 as inscribed on a segmental-headed lintel below the entrance porch.

The lower storey is constructed of rock-faced stone with red sandstone dressings and features mullioned and transomed windows. The upper storey and attic are tile-hung with bands of fish-scale tiles incorporated into the hanging, and have wood-framed windows. The windows retain mainly leaded upper lights. The roof is laid in red tiles with brick stacks that have diagonal ribs to the main elevations.

The east-facing front comprises a narrow central entrance bay flanked by advanced and higher gabled wings. The southern wing is longer and houses the service rooms at the rear. A gabled entrance porch is offset to the left side of the entrance bay and has a coped gable and angle buttresses to its side walls. Inside the porch is a ribbed door with a glazed panel to its left. On the right side of the porch is a 3-light window, and in the upper storey is a 3-light casement beneath the eaves.

The southern wing has a 4-light window in the lower storey lighting the original study, with a smaller 3-light wood-mullioned and transomed window in the upper storey and a 2-light wood-mullioned attic window. The gable end of the northern wing is dominated by an external stack, in the lower storey of which is a tablet bearing the Westminster family arms in a diamond panel. The stack is flanked in the lower storey by replaced windows in original stone surrounds, with a similar window set upper right in a wooden frame.

The northern wing houses the principal rooms. In the 2-window side wall facing the Dee Estuary, the lower storey contains 3-light windows, with 3-light casements incorporating inset Palladian windows in the upper storey and 3-light gabled dormer windows.

The side wall of the southern wing, which is of rock-faced stone in both storeys, is dominated by a large external stack positioned right of centre. This is flanked by a small replaced window in an original dressed surround to its right, and a 2-light mullioned window set into the stack on the left side. Further left is a former doorway to the service rooms, now converted to a 2-light casement but retaining its mullioned overlight. Above this are two windows in dressed stone surrounds and a 2-light mullioned window to a gabled dormer. A large replaced casement window in an original segmental-headed opening lights the kitchen at the left end, above which is a 2-light mullioned window.

A single-storey scullery with a hipped roof and brick end stack is attached to the rear of the southern wing and has two 2-light casements and a narrower window between. The rear of the house is enclosed by a yard with a stone wall, set back from the angle of the southern wing and attached to the scullery. The shorter northern wing of the house has an external stack to its rear gable. The entrance bay on its right side has a 4-light wood-mullioned and transomed stair window under a segmental head, and a 2-light casement to a gabled roof dormer. Below it is a single-storey lean-to that continues around to the rear of the southern wing and has 2-light casements to the original stores and larder. The rear of the southern wing, facing the yard, has two single-light and a 2-light casement below stone lintels in the upper storey. The scullery has two boarded doors to the yard and a 2-light window. The yard wall incorporates a coal shed.

Internally, the entrance hall contains a straight stair with a quarter turn at the base, fitted with turned balusters and newels. The main rooms have panelled doors with vertical ribs, and windows with panelled reveals. The original study on the left side retains a simple wooden chimneypiece. On the right side of the entrance, the drawing room at the front retains stained glass in the upper lights of its north window. The dining room immediately behind it retains similar stained glass and is the most richly treated room. Its wooden chimneypiece has fluted pilasters and an overmantel with pilasters and diamond panels. The ceiling has moulded ribs forming square panels.

At the service end, original boarded doors are retained. The kitchen retains its original service bells, while the pantry retains its original slate slab.