The Old Vicarage

Details

BREMHILL BREMHILL VILLAGE ST 97 SE (south side) 8/14 The Old Vicarage 20.12.60 GV II House, former vicarage, C15 core, C17, much altered after 1818 for Rev W.L. Bowles and further altered later in C19 or c1900. Roughcast with ashlar dressings and stone slate roof. Cruciform five-shaft ridge stack, probably C17, with some shafts missing. Rendered east stack, c1900 diagonally shafted stacks at west end and north west corner. Two storeys and attic. North elevation and plan in 1825 are given in Bowles' History of Bremhill and comparison shows that west end has been built out and substantial alterations made to the fenestration since. Ridge stack marks division between earliest section, to east, and C17 cross-gabled addition to west, extended westward c1900. Bowles added pierced parapets modelled on Stourton church, built out a 2-storey range on north front, dated 1820, and a central Gothic porch on the south, dated 1818. The south bay windows are marked on 1825 plan, but only single storey bay to right of centre looks c1820. South front now has rough symmetry about centre Tudor-arched porch with two coped gables, coved cornice and pierced parapets, dripcourse and raised plinth. Windows generally are paired sashes in ovolo- moulded mullioned frames, more probably post 1825. To right of centre is gable with C17 attic 2-light window, paired first floor sashes with hoodmould and ground floor c1820 large canted bay with full-height sashes each side, French window to front and pierced parapet. To right, two plain upper windows and ground floor former paired sash, glazing since altered. To left of centre, gable has renewed attic 2-light, and large 2-storey canted bay with sashes in ovolo-moulded frames. Section to left, added post 1825 had paired sash each floor, but lower pair are blocked with inserted cl900 timber oriel. Service range to east of main house. North front roofline shows division each side of ridge stack. Section to east has C17 attic mullion window in projecting gable and 1820 two- storey addition in front, broken forward in front of original gable. This section has octagonal ashlar angle turrets with open crown caps, pierced parapets, and angle pinnacles to centre section. Fenestration generally altered from 1825 illustration where ground floor has two-arched entry and right octagonal turret is not built, but Y-traceried timber window to ground floor left is as illustrated. Section to west is more completely altered since 1825, C17 original was cross-gabled with corner stack, now north gable remains with new mullion windows, and west gable has been extended to west with large north side stack. Interior not inspected but one bay of a C15 roof with fine crown post truss survives at east end. House may be associated with a medieval grange of Malmesbury Abbey, though Bremhill Manor (q.v.) has also been suggested as the site. The Rev W.L. Bowles, vicar of Bremhill 1804-45, poet, antiquarian and theorist of the picturesque was an important figure in the literary discussions on the nature of beauty and relative importance of the natural and the artificial. Charles Lamb, William Wordsworth and Thomas Moore were visitors to the vicarage, around which Bowles laid out a picturesque garden, now largely vanished, with winding paths, grottoes, Gothic seats and a hermit's cave. (W.L.. Bowles, A Parochial history of the parish of Bremhill, 1828; N. Pevsner, Wiltshire, 1975, 141; Information from D.A. Stirling, North Wiltshire District Council)

Listing NGR: ST9802972988

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

316138

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Bowles, Reverend W L, A Parochial History of the Parish of Bremhill, (1828)
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Wiltshire, (1975), 141

End of official list entry

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