Description

CLYST ST LAWRENCE
ST 00 SW
2/47 The Old Rectory including kitchen
- garden walls adjoining to north
GV II*

House, former rectory. Early C16 with major later C16 and C17 improvements,
modernised with an extension of late C18 - early C19. Plastered cob on stone rubble
footings, some rebuilt in local stone rubble, probably mostly brick in the
extension; stone rubble and brick stacks with plastered brick chimneyshafts; slate
roof, originally thatch to the older part.
Plan and development: the house faces south and is built down a hillslope. It has
a rambling plan. The principal rooms are housed in an L-plan block uphill at the
left (west) end. The front block here contains 2 heated parlours and rear of the
right room is the entrance hall containing the main staircase. This block was new
built in the late C18 - early C19 at which time the old house was converted to
service use. This service block connects only at the right rear corner of the main
entrance hall. It has a 3-room-and-through-passage plan. Adjoining the late C18 -
early C19 block is an unheated inner room. Next to it is the former hall, a large
room with a projecting front lateral stack. A narrow lobby has been partitioned off
at the upper end of the hall. At the right end is the service end room (now used as
a kitchen) which has a projecting end stack.
The present layout is essentially the result of the late C18 - early C19
refurbishment when the old house was converted to service functions (the former hall
was the kitchen) and the new block was built. The old house has a long and complex
structural history. The inner room end was floored from the start providing a
chamber over a dairy or buttery. The hall (and probably the service end) was open
to the roof and heated by an open hearth fire. The hall fireplace was probably
inserted in the mid - late C16 and the hall was floored over in the early C17. The
service end was much rebuilt in the late C18 - early C19 at which time the front
wall was brought out flush with the front of hall stack and the end wall and stack
were rebuilt.
The house is 2 storeys throughout with late C18 - early C19 lean-to outshots to rear
of the service block/the old house.
Exterior: the late C18 - early C19 block has mostly original windows. The south
front has a symmetrical 2-window front of first floor 16-pane sashes and larger
ground floor 15-pane sashes (the left one has been replaced by a C20 French window).
The entrance front on the right end has a similar 2-window front but here the right
bay contains the main doorway; an original 6-panel door with overlight and a timber
doorcase with a moulded entablature including a dentil frieze on scrolled consoles.
The roof has plain deep eaves and the roof is hipped both ends. The old house block
has irregular front fenestration; the 3 ground floor windows are C20 casements with
glazing bars and the 5 first floor windows are late C18 - early C19 casements
containing rectangular panes of leaded glass (there are more in the end and rear
walls). The passage front doorway is right of centre and it contains a late C18 -
early C19 6-panel door behind a C20 gabled porch. The roof here is gable-ended.
Interior: the late C18 - early C19 block is well preserved and contains a great
deal of original joinery and other detail including a good open string geometric
stair with stick balusters and mahogany handrail. In the old house the service end
was largely rebuilt in the late C18 - early C19 and the roughly finished crossbeam
and stone rubble fireplace with oak lintel (which has been raised in the C20) date
from then. The lower end passage screen contains the remains of an oak large-framed
partition which may be an early C16 low partition screen. The other partitions are
plastered over. The full height crosswall at the upper end of the former hall is
probably an early C16 oak-framed structure (the top part shows in the roofspace).
The former hall has 2 early C17 chamfered and step-stopped axial beams. The inner
room has a plain chamfered axial beam; it is probably early C16. The hall fireplace
is blocked. The original roof survives over the hall and inner room. The partition
between the hall and inner room chamber is a closed truss and the open truss over
the hall is side-pegged jointed cruck with chamfered arch braces and originally had
single sets of curving windbraces some of which still survive. There is a hip cruck
in the upper end wall. The section over the inner room is clean whilst that over
the hall is smoke-blackened from the original open hearth fire. The rest of the
roof was replaced in the late C18 - early C19.
Behind the house is the kitchen garden which is enclosed by a late C18 - early C19
tall brick wall laid in monk bond.

Listing NGR: ST0267100050

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17546985

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
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  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
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  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings