The Rectory

Details

SS 72 SE BISHOP'S NYMPTON

6/48 The Rectory (formerly listed as The Vicarage) 20.2.67

GV II

Rectory, formerly the vicarage. 1836 by J. Cock of South Molton (D.R.O.) for Joseph Thorne, incumbent, 1835-71. Stone rubble, colourwashed and plastered to the principal elevations, roughcast to the rear; 2-span slate roof, hipped at ends; 2 stacks to the left end, internal front and rear lateral stacks to the right hand rooms, all with rendered shafts and moulded cornices. Plan: Original plan preserved. Double-depth west-facing main block, the south elevation overlooking the garden, with a service wing adjoining at the north. Central entrance into a deep entrance hall: study to the left with the stair rising behind it; dining room to the right, rear right drawing room, rear left kitchen, rear centre store room or gun room. The north wing contains a back kitchen with a stack back to back with the kitchen stack; a game larder; pantry and service stair. Exterior: Remarkably intact. 2 storeys. Symmetrical 3-bay front (west) elevation, all the features original, with deep eaves on shaped, paired eaves brackets. Left and right pilasters with incised Greek ornament. Steps up to a 7-bay paved cast iron verandah, with a hipped slate roof on decorated cast iron uprights with decorated cast iron segmental arches, the central arch wider and the verandah returning to the south and extending across the south elevation. Original C19 front door, the upper panels replaced with glass, with narrow half-glazed panels to left and right and a narrow entablature with a Greek key ornament on 4 fluted timber colonnettes. Original 1836 painted glass is preserved in the elliptically arched fanlight with decorative glazing bars. Blind recesses in the right hand bay, where there is an internal lateral stack, match the left hand windows : a transomed French window with margin glazing to left, 2 C19 12-pane hornelss sashes to first floor left and centre with eared architraves. The south elevation, overlooking the garden, is similar, but of 4 bays with an 8-bay verandah. 4 original French windows, 4 first floor hornless sashes and a central pilaster in addition to the outer pilasters. The rear (east) elevation also preserves its original sash windows with a smaller, possibly C20 window on the ground floor. The service block, adjoining the north elevation, has a date plaque of 1836 with the initials J.T. for Joseph Thorne. The fenestration, including the pantry and game larder windows, is original except for 2 C20 first floor timber casements. Interior: Very complete. The joinery includes original doors, doorcases, shutters, skirting boards and a stick baluster dog-leg stair with a ramped wreathed handrail. Original marble chimney-pieces survive in the principal rooms except the study, with more modest ones on the first floor. Original plaster cornices are also preserved, including one combined with a ceiling frieze in the drawing room. A remarkably complete C19 rectory, still owned by the Church of England and preserving its original garden and vegetable garden walls and stables (q.v.), a rare survival.

Listing NGR: SS7590623969

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

97578

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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