The Old Rectory

Reasons for Designation

The Old Rectory at Purleigh is designated for the following principal reasons. * It is a building of considerable aesthetic merit in design, elevational treatment and quality of craftsmanship. * It was designed by Frederick Chancellor, an architect with several listed buildings to his name including the Old Rectory at Gilston (Grade II) with which it is comparable. * It retains interior fixtures and fittings, including fireplaces, staircases and joinery. * The internal arrangement survives unaltered. * The Old Rectory has group value with the adjacent Grade I Church of All Saints.

Details

PURLEIGH

1187/0/10012 CHURCH HILL 10-DEC-08 THE OLD RECTORY (Formerly listed as: CHURCH HILL The Old Rectory)

II The Old Rectory, Purleigh, was designed by Frederick Chancellor for the Reverend Dr Edwin Hatch and built in 1885.

MATERIALS Constructed of red brick, laid in English bond, with tiled roofs.

PLAN Rectangular.

EXTERIOR The rectory has two storeys and an attic, with exposed red brick laid in English bond on the ground floor, tile-hung in alternate plain, fish-scale and geometric styles on the first floor with a corbelled, moulded brick string course accentuating the change in elevational treatment. The gable roof has a plain tile covering and cresting and five truncated stacks variously positioned. Two dormers beneath oversailing hipped slate roofs with slender finials are on the rear pitch, and there is one of the same design on the front. To the right, a larger dormer beneath a gablet has a row of five leaded lights with mullions and timber work above in the apex. The façade faces south, from which a path and gate lead to the adjacent Church of All Saints. An off-centre porch with pent roof has a central pointed arched opening flanked by windows with moulded mullions and transoms and leaded lights. Beyond is a tudor-arch door with decorative strap hinges and eight small lights in the upper part. To the right and left are casement windows with mullions beneath segmental brick heads with enlarged keystones. At first floor, the gable to the left of the door projects forward and has decorative timber work in the apex. Above the porch, the stair window has a central arched panel with shaped panes above, moulded transoms and mullions and two casement windows flanking, all with leaded lights and stained glass. The west elevation has a hipped projection to the left, with slender finial, the principal gable roof behind has decorative timber in the apex and mullion windows either side of the stack. The windows are in a similar style as those of the facade. On the rear elevation, the polite range to the right has an off-centre main door with stained glass, including a central coat of arms, leaded lights flanked by two single pane casements with a row of five casement windows with moulded mullions and transoms further to the left. Above the entrance are three single casements interspersed with timbered panels. Further to the east, the service range is lit by two casement windows on ground floor with a large casement window above. A single storey outbuilding, with crested gables to the north and east, adjoins the east elevation beneath a pent roof from which a moulded brick chimney stack rises. The outbuilding originally contained the scullery, knives room and an earth closet with the service entrance to the left. The principal gable has timber work and a small canted window of four casements projecting.

INTERIOR Comparison between the plans held in the record office and the current internal arrangement indicates only minor alteration to ancillary spaces on the ground and first floors. On the ground floor, the 'parish room' at the front of the house remains. All rooms with the exception of a bedroom on the first floor retain fireplaces and deep cornices. The doors and joinery remain, as do the service stairs to the first floor and attic spaces complete with their small fireplaces. The hall lies at the focus of the house; the open well staircase has turned balusters, carved newels, moulded handrail and at the half landing, a built in settle, which from the ground floor, has the appearance of a pulpit. A carved wood and stone fire surround remains in the hall, with the date 1885 on a central stone plaque with foliate motif.

HISTORY The first edition OS map of 1873 shows the former rectory on the site, associated with the extant walled garden and stable building, the latter now in use as a garage. In 1883, a replacement rectory was designed by Frederick Chancellor for the Rev. Dr. Edwin Hatch (1835-1889) who took the living at Purleigh during that year. A noted theologian with an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Dr Edwin Hatch wrote the still popular hymn 'Breathe on me, breath of God' at the rectory and taught his own brand of liberal theology widely.

The Old Rectory was finished in c.1885 and has been very little altered since. An article in The Building News of 1887 names Messrs Saunders and Son of Dedham as the builders and gives the cost as £2,200; the accompanying sketch suggests that the upper casements had leaded lights, now replaced with single panes. Chancellor's building plans, and photographic evidence dated 1900, are held in the Essex Record Office and further indicate that the architectural treatment and plan-form of the building remains largely intact.

SOURCES Essex Record Office T/P 504/5 and D/F 9/597 (Drawings) The Building News, Jan 7th, 1887.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION. The Old Rectory at Purleigh is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons. * It is a building of considerable aesthetic merit in design, elevational treatment and quality of craftsmanship. * It was designed by Frederick Chancellor, an architect with several listed buildings to his name including the Old Rectory at Gilston (Grade II) with which it is comparable. * It retains interior fixtures and fittings, including fireplaces, staircases and joinery. * The internal arrangement survives unaltered. * The Old Rectory has group value with the adjacent Grade I Church of All Saints.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

506295

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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