Description

KENN KENN
SX 98 NW

2/173 The Old Rectory

11.11.52

GV II

Former Rectory. Late C16 or earlier origins, remodelled circa 1830, substantial
reconstruction of the 1970s and 1980s. Partly stone rubble, partly cob on stone, all
pebbledashed ; concrete tile roof, hipped at ends, replacing a 2-span slate roof :
stacks with modern brick shafts.
Plan: Evidence in the present plan of a large, early house ; a solar or chapel block
at the left end retains a high quality C16 roof and the ground floor of the right end
has circa early C17 carpentry detail while the central section of the house is a
complete early C19 rebuilding. A watercolour of the house in 1795 (Swete) shows an H
plan, a main block with crosswings, and the early C19 alterations would seem to have
involved making the main block, double depth. The present arrangement consists of
the C16 wing at the left (ground floor now a garage), now roofed over at right angles
to the original timbers, the C19 middle block with an entrance to the left into a
stair hall at the front is divided from a sitting room at the rear by an axial
passage linking the stair hall to the service block at the right end ; this retains
some circa early C17 features. The house has been entirely re-roofed in the 1970s,
retaining the C16 roof at the left end.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4:3 window front with regular fenestration, the
right end (with 3 windows) projecting to the front. Late C19 glazed timber porch in
the angle between the main block and projecting front with a tiled lean-to roof (some
replacement) and some stained glass ; panelled early C19 front door with deep
panelled reveals. To the left of the front door a garage has been made on the ground
floor of the C16 block ; 4 12-pane first floor timber sashes of the early C19, above
the garage the porch. To the right of the porch 2 18-pane sashes light the dining
room; 4-light probably C17 ovolo-moulded mullioned window to ground floor right. 2
12-pane sashes above the dining room, 2 2-light casements at the right end, which is
3 storeys. The left return of the house (the C16 block) has a deeply-chamfered
narrow 1-light window to the right, a C16 chamfered doorframe (doorway blocked), to
the left and a C20 first floor window to the left concealing a similar internal C18
stone doorframe. The rear elevation has a late C19 porch, to match the front porch
but with a hipped tiled roof and an early C19 round-headed stair window above ; C19
sashes to the left, 3 over 6-panes on the first floor, 18-pane sashes on the ground
floor ; 1 12-pane first floor sash to the right with a C20 window below.
Interior: Circa 1830s interior largely intact including plaster cornices ; joinery,
including shutters, good doorcases, doors, skirting boards ; marble chimneypieces and
a fine stair with turned balusters, a decorated string and ramped, wreathed handrail.
The ground floor room to the right at the front retains probably early C17 carpentry;
a chamfered crossbeam and moulded half-beams and a partly-blocked C17 fireplace with
an ovolo-moulded timber lintel and one exposed stone jamb. Other chamfered ceiling
beams survive in this end of the house. The garage, at the left end, preserves a
chamfered step-stopped crossbeam, the stone doorframes on the left return of the
house suggesting a former external stair.
Roof: The left end retains 6 arched brace trusses of jointed cruck construction (not
all complete and with the ridge missing), the jointed crucks side-pegged, the braces
chamfered with no evidence of smoke-staining. The main roof is late C20. An
extremely interesting evolved house.

Swete, J. "Picturesque Sketches of Devon", vol. 11, (1795), MS in DRO.

Listing NGR: SX9231885348

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26389963

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

• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)