Building record BUC 119 - The Old Rectory

The building appears to have originated as a timber framed farmhouse, probably in the 16th century. The oldest surviving part of the building is the north range, or the cross bar of the present T-shaped building. In the medieval period and afterwards the property formed part of the glebe land. By the time of the tithe map of 1838 it is shown as part of a group of farm buildings. It was remodlled and enlarged into a rectory c.1840 and the earlier farm buildings were cleared. At the beginning of the 20th century the original canted and gabled entrance porch in the angle of the the two ranges were present however the upper part of the chimney stacks had been rebuilt. The porch was demolished in 1985. The house is of two storeys and is faced in painted red brick. There is a cellar below the eastern part of the timber-framed range. The roofs are covered in dark glazed pantiles, the roof of the original range is steeper than the roof of the early Victorian range. The gables have roundels with pierced trefoils, undulating wooden bargeboards and finials. Both ranges have a central red brick chimney stack. On the main elevation the windows are small-paned casements from the remodelling and extension of c.1840, with splayed reveals and hood-moulds, except on the east elevation of the timber-framed range, were they are more simply detailed. The timber-framed range is of typical three-cell plan with an off-centre chimney stack, and with a short northern outlet. Recent opening up has revealed some high quality framing in the ground floor rooms on either side of the stack, as well as a great deal of patching and making good with re-used timbers (S1).