Archway With Gates and Flanking Walls and Inner, Freestanding Archway to the Old Rectory
ARCHWAY WITH GATES AND FLANKING WALLS AND INNER, FREESTANDING ARCHWAY TO THE OLD RECTORY, CHURCH LANE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1149980
- Date first listed:
- 25-Apr-1952
- List Entry Name:
- Archway With Gates and Flanking Walls and Inner, Freestanding Archway to the Old Rectory
- Statutory Address:
- ARCHWAY WITH GATES AND FLANKING WALLS AND INNER, FREESTANDING ARCHWAY TO THE OLD RECTORY, CHURCH LANE
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-08-31
- Reference:
- IOE01/05032/28
- Rights:
- © Mr John Kilgallon. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1149980
- Date first listed:
- 25-Apr-1952
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 22-Feb-1985
- List Entry Name:
- Archway With Gates and Flanking Walls and Inner, Freestanding Archway to the Old Rectory
- Statutory Address 1:
- ARCHWAY WITH GATES AND FLANKING WALLS AND INNER, FREESTANDING ARCHWAY TO THE OLD RECTORY, CHURCH LANE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- ARCHWAY WITH GATES AND FLANKING WALLS AND INNER, FREESTANDING ARCHWAY TO THE OLD RECTORY, CHURCH LANE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- North Yorkshire (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Spofforth with Stockeld
- National Grid Reference:
- SE 36402 51097, SE 36403 51101
Details
SPOFFORTH WITH STOCKELD
334/3/75 CHURCH LANE 25-APR-52 (South side) ARCHWAY WITH GATES AND FLANKING WALLS AND INNER, FREESTANDING, ARCHWAY TO TH E OLD RECTORY (Formerly listed as: CHURCH LANE PRECINCT WALL AT RECTORY)
GV II Section of boundary wall and a pair of reused medieval archways forming a carriage entrance to the Old Rectory. Sandstone with wrought iron gates.
DESCRIPTION The arch in the boundary wall is four centred, formed with voussoirs that are double chamfered externally and single chamfered internally. The inner skin of the wall is supported by a separate, higher arch that is two centred, springing from imposts. The arch is set in a section of boundary wall constructed with mainly large, coursed, squared sandstone blocks. The wall is coped with flagstones and steps up over the arch. There are marked butt joints around 5-6m from the archway to both east and west, with the style of the boundary wall changing slightly. The rest of the boundary wall is not included within this listing but will fall within the curtilage of the Old Rectory. The archway is enclosed by a pair of wrought iron gates with the lower section barred, the upper part infilled with scrollwork. These gates are probably C20 replacements of earlier gates.
The freestanding arch is ungated and spans the same driveway as the arch through the boundary wall. It lies about 5m inside the boundary. It is also four centred, but almost segmental. It is formed from voussoirs that have a very slight, plain chamfer to both faces.
HISTORY Both archways are medieval, but neither may be in their original locations. The inner, freestanding archway has certainly been moved. This is thought to have taken place in 1928 after its discovery within the structure of a stable undergoing demolition. It is possible that the outer archway is in its original location. There is a local tradition that Spofforth House, The Old Rectory, is built on the site of a medieval hospital dedicated to St Mary Magdalene, and that the wall and archway is part of a precinct boundary. Although mainly C18, the Old Rectory is of medieval origin and includes a blocked, west facing window with C14 plate tracery. However the claim that it was a hospital is unsubstantiated. For instance, Spofforth is not included in Bottomley's 2002 gazetteer of medieval hospitals in Yorkshire. There is an alternative and probably more likely suggestion that the archway was originally part of Spofforth Castle, which has been ruined since the mid-C17 after being slighted during the English Civil War, and was moved to its current location by a former Rector to aggrandise his house, possibly c1700.
SOURCES Bottomley, F 2002 "Medieval Hospitals of Yorkshire"
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
The archway with gates and flanking walls, and the inner freestanding archway is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons
* For their interest as surviving medieval stonework. * For their contribution to the garden of the mainly C18 Old Rectory that is also Grade II listed.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 330543
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Spofforth Castle and Church, (1931), 24
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 18-Jun-2026 at 15:44:41.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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