Description

ST 01 SE UFFCULME
4/137 Old Parsonage (formerly listed
5.4.66 as Parsonage Farmhouse)
- II
Detached house, formerly a farmhouse, and originally the parsonage (before the
erection of the present vicarage in 1835, q.v.) Possibly late C15 or early C16,
much altered and re-ordered in the C19 and mid C20. Main range of plastered
rubble, the rear wing of roughcast cob; gable end slate roofs. Brick shafts to
stacks. Later alterations have confused the original plan which was probably a 3-
room, through-passage plan house, the higher end to the left of the passage; the
hall is now heated at the higher end, but the fireplace here is 1930s and there may
once have been a stack backing onto the passage, since demolished. The passage
itself has been blocked by a re-used plank and muntin screen that was axially sited,
forming a small room that encroaches upon the original hall space, and behind which
are the present main stairs. Service end with former end (now axial stack); the
service end has been extended (this part of the house was not inspected internally).
To the rear of the service end is a substantial wing with 3 rooms. Axial stack to
the wing. 2 storeys.
Exterior. Front: regular 6-window range; including a 2 storeyed crenellated
porch; all the 2 and 3-light casement windows have mid-C20 stone ovolo moulded
mullions and surrounds, those to the ground floor with hood moulds. The depressed
chamfered arch to the porch is largely renewed. A single-storeyed front wing,
entirely C20, has 2 similar 2-light windows with hood moulds. The rear wing has 3
first floor 2-light casement windows with timber ovolo moulded mullions and
surrounds, and these could be C17 (at least in part). Large conservatory to rear of
hall and inner room.
Interior. (Ground floor rooms only were inspected) : remains of quite a grand
interior. Hall and inner room both have ceilings with intersecting beams with
composite cavetto and roll mouldings, forming 4 ceiling squares. Re-used plank and
muntin screen, chamfered and mitred (see above). Service end with chamfered cross
ceiling beam, the stone chimneypiece with lugged surround and egg and dart
decoration. It is understood that the roof was originally of jointed cruck
construction.
Rear wing: 3 rooms, the 2 furthest rooms divided by a plank and muntin screen with
evidence of an arched doorway lintel; each room with deeply chamfered ceiling cross
beam with step stops. The first room of the wing with a deep rear fireplace with
stone jambs and chamfered timber lintel.
Although substantially altered, first in the C17 (if the ovolo moulded windows
follow genuine precedents) then more radically in more recent times, Old Parsonage
remains a good example of a pre-Reformation incumbents' residence.

Listing NGR: ST0750312524

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26400332

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

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version