Description

SHENINGTON WITH ALKERTON ALKERTON
SP 3642-3742
7/52 The Old Rectory and attached
wall
GV II*
Rectory, now house. Built in 1625 for Thomas Lidyat, chronologer and
cosmographer to Henry Prince of Wales. Short rear wing added in 1748.
Alterations and additions to rear in 1946 and 1973. Squared, coursed ironstone.
Steeply pitched stone slate roof laid to diminishing courses. Stone coped gables
with moulded kneelers. Large, partly renewed, diagonally-set stone ridge stacks
on stone bases and twin-shafted end stacks. 2-unit plan extended to L-plan by
the addition of later kitchen wing. 2 storeys plus attic. 4-window range. Front
elevation. Ground floor has a blocked doorway and two 3-light and a 2-light
stone mullioned windows with hood moulds and label stops. Similar windows to
first floor plus a small rectangular stone framed window. Windows have lead
cames and wrought-iron casement fasteners. Ironstone quoins. Chamfered stone
plinth. Rear. Entrance off-centre to left has a cambered arched head with hood
mould and lozenge shaped label stops. Original oak plank door. Ground and first
floor both have 3-light cavetto stone mullioned windows on right. 3 rectangular
stone framed windows with hood moulds and label stops at irregular heights mark
position of original staircase now existing only from first floor to attic.
Lower wing has 2-light stone mullioned windows with hood moulds and label stops.
Interior. Original plan of hall and parlour separated by central double
fireplace. Each room approximately 17 feet square. Moulded spine beams with
stop-chamfers. Moulded stone fireplace in parlour dated 1625 in spandrels. Hall
has large fireplace with arched stone head and a bread oven over 4 feet in
diameter. Fireplace in bedroom over parlour has moulded jambs and Tudor arch.
Early C18 fireplace and bread oven in kitchen. Later staircase leads from hall.
C17 stair survives from first floor to attic. Purlin roof. A notable example of
regional architecture built for one of the regions most distinguished figures,
Thomas Lydyat (1572-1646), rector of Alkerton and a greatly respected writer and
scholar in his day. Wall probably C18. Approximately 4 metres high. Finely
jointed ironstone with a stone coping.
(Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: 1974, p421; Wood-Jones, pp151-2 and pp271-3,
plates 1b and 16d; VCH: Oxfordshire: Vol IX, pp45 and 50; Oxfordshire Record
Society II (1920) 6)

Listing NGR: SP3774342894

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17548049

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments