Details
CHIPPENHAM ST9273SW ST MARY STREET
930-1/10/198 (East side)
25/04/50 No.54
The Old Vicarage and attached
railings GV II* Vicarage, now a retirement home. Dated 1678 to north
chimney-stack but with probable late medieval origins to south
end, refronted early C18, partly restored c1929. Limestone
ashlar, probably originally timber-framed; stone slate roof;
ashlar stacks with square diagonally-set shafts to gable ends
and plain stack to centre ridge.
PLAN: 4-unit through-passage plan with late C17/early C18 and
C19 rear wings.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys; 8-window range. Returned cornice and
parapet; rusticated pilasters to quoins; lintel and sill
bands; moulded architraves to early C18 6-over-6-pane sash
windows with thick glazing bars and some old glass; prostyle
Tuscan portico with entablature; cyma-moulded architrave to
doorway with raised-and-fielded 6-panel door. After the
refronting, the wall plates of the steep-pitched roof still
exist behind the 2nd-floor windows to the right of the door.
The floor level to the right can be seen in the top panes of
the 1st-floor windows. An aerial view photograph shows a lead
roof spanning the space between the original roof and the
parapet.
To rear, C17/early C18 pair of gabled attics with 3 and
4-light wooden-mullioned leaded windows (restored c1929);
other rear windows to wings have moulded architraves to
6/6-pane sashes; C19 rear right wing has a splayed bay to the
south end. The sloping site provides a semi-basement to the
rear where C20 windows are inserted into former 2-light
stone-mullioned ground-floor windows.
INTERIOR: north end includes some late medieval timber-framing
to rear and to gable end, and moulded ground floor beams.
Raised-and-fielded panels to shutters to front windows. The
former through-passage, now the hall, has an early C18 dado
rail with raised-and-fielded panelling below and a dentilled
cornice; late C19 polychromatic floor tiles. To the rear right
is an early C18 open-well, open-string staircase with fretted
ends and moulded, swept and wreathed handrail. The room to the
right of the passage has a moulded axial beam and a large
chimney-breast to an open fire with a cyma-moulded architrave.
The room to the far right has full-height raised-and-fielded
panelling and a blocked fireplace to the rear.
The rear right wing has a C19 white marble fireplace and
elaborate cornice. The room to the left of the passage, now a
kitchen, has ogee-stopped chamfered beams to a panelled
ceiling and a former open fire to the gable end. Below it is a
barrel-vaulted cellar.
The early C18 rear left wing has a fully-panelled room with a
box cornice and fire to the left, to the ground floor.
The 1st floor of the main block has a C19 passage along the
rear wall with bolection moulding in early C18 style. The
cornices do not coincide. Rooms to the front have a moulded
axial beam, early C18 box cornices and full-height
raised-and-fielded panelling.
The room to the 1st floor of the left wing, which has thick
glazing bars to 6/6-pane sash windows, is panelled below the
dado rail with flush timber-framing above, implying that this
room had tapestry or silk stretched across it. The 2nd floor
has some C17 planked doors with fine wrought-iron hinges and
some c1929 similar doors with elaborate hinges; one C17 oak
door frame to the right is cyma-moulded, stopped above the
base.
Much of the collar-beam roof is exposed which has sloping
trusses below the tenoned purlins and a ridge-in-notch. The
attic of the 3-bay rear left wing of similar structure has a
small C17 planked oak door with fine wrought-iron hinges and a
wooden lock. Below the right end of the house, the
semi-basement, in course of restoration, is barrel-vaulted.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: plain railings, attached to the sides of
the door and the corners of the house, enclosing narrow
forecourts, have cast-iron anthemion finials.
Listing NGR: ST9232873232
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
462427
Legacy System:
LBS
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