Description

ST 56 SW WINFORD OLD HILL
(west side)
6/125 The Parsonage

GV 13.10.52 II*

Rectory, now house. c1700 (rainwater head to W elevation dated 1716).
Random rubble to rear service wing with dressed stone quoins, stone
copings, gabled pantile roof and 1980s stone end stack. Front block
with coursed rubble, ashlar facade and dressings, hipped early C19
slate roof and stone stacks. Double-depth plan with vestibule to large
rear stair hall; rear right service wing makes L plan. 2 storeys and
attic; symmetrical 5-window east front in classical (Provincial
Baroque) style. Central bay is slightly advanced and defined by
rusticated pilasters. Similar pilasters to each end. Moulded first-
floor string course and cornice beneath parapet. Central doorway with
bolection-moulded surround and very fine shell hood on richly-carved
brackets. Original 8-panel door with 2 glazed lights and rectangular
fanlight. Panelled parapet with moulded coping. 3 dormers; 2 gabled,
one segmental-headed with 2-light small-pane C20 casements. All
windows are 12-pane early C19 six/six-pane sashes. Similar windows to
2-window left (E) return, with similar parapet cornice, also to 3-
window right (W) return with thick glazing bars to C20 9/9-pane first-
floor sashes above lean-to with keyed arch to doorway and 3-light
cyma-moulded mullioned and transomed cross windows with turnbuckle to
opening casement. Rear elevation has similar 2-light cross windows and
C20 horned 6/6-pane sash in similar restored architrave above
chamfered doorway with scroll-carved brackets to flat hood. 2-storey
rear wing: left-side (E) return has 3-light chamfered stone-mullioned
ground-floor window with leaded casements and original turnbuckles;
right return has similar 2-light cross window to ground floor and C19
3/6-pane sash and centre-hung 16-pane casement to first floor.
Interior: original moulded cornices throughout. Original bolection-
moulded panelled doors and plain 2-panel doors; otherwise early C19
architraves and panelled doors and shutters. Front left room has early
C19 reeded architraves with roundels and restored dado panelling.
Front right room has late C17 bolection-moulded architrave to
fireplace. Similar fireplace to rear right room which has late
C19/early C20 strapwork ceiling and C18 china cupboard and dado. Stop-
chamfered beam in rear kitchen. Rear left room has C18 china cupboards
in recesses with bolection-moulded panelled lower doors. Entrance
vestible passes into rear stair hall via lobby with groined plaster
vault with bay leaf swags anf foliate 'branches'. Very fine open-well
staircase with dog gates, ramped handrail, turned balusters to open
string, turned pendentives and gadroomed finials. Stair rises to attic
storey, which has gallery to front: this has cornicing with beading
to springers beneath plaster vaulted ceiling; barrel-vaulted to end
bays and groin-vaulted with ribs and pendentives to 3 central bays.
Butt-purlin roof trusses.
History: the 1716 rainwater head indicates that the rectory was
rebuilt for Peter Blanchard (of a local gentry family) who became
rector in 1714. There are no straight joints etc, suggesting that the
rear wing is of the same date as the front.

N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: N Somerset and Bristol, 1958, p
340;
A J H Hobbs, History of the Parish of Winford, 1954, pp 11-12.

Listing NGR: ST5297664293

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17534022

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)