Summary

Mid-to later C18 house, until recently, the vicarage.

Description

MATERIALS: limestone rubble, stone quoins to north-facing entrance front and ground floor of south-east angle, elsewhere brick quoins; brick storey band, dentil course and flush red brick dressings to windows; north and east elevations painted. Rear bathroom wing weatherboarded. Tile roofs.

PLAN: two parallel ranges, the front range under a single hipped roof, the south-western and central bays, and the south-eastern bay of the rear range above the kitchen, under two separate hipped roofs. The house is principally of two storeys, but the first floor levels vary between the front and rear ranges and between the two sections of the rear range. The south-west rear bay also has a shallow cellar. The front range is of three-cell plan with internal end stacks; the narrower central cell was apparently unheated, the larger eastern cell of two bays; central and eastern bays have been opened up as one space and the stair reconfigured at the rear of the central cell.

EXTERIOR: front range in three asymmetrical bays with the entrance to the central bay into what was formerly a narrow hall. Shallow plinth, brick storey band and brick dentil eaves course, the latter extending to the rear of the building. Eaves brick courses on the western elevation may have been rebuilt. Tall gable end internal brick stacks. Ground floor windows, that to the right enlarged, all beneath cambered brick arches. Two have paired six-pane C20 timber casements, that to right a tall six-over-six pane sash. First floor windows have C20 three-over-three pane sashes. Entrance with stone threshold, beneath later splayed canopy. Broad door of six nearly flush moulded panels, in deep, flush-panelled linings, has a lion head knocker.

The right-hand return is of limestone rubble without an apparent sign of a break in construction between the ranges, having rebuilt brick eaves. However, the rear range includes flush, brick quoins that are now isolated, suggesting alteration and rebuilding. The window arch and vertical bands are in mid-C18 manner, the sash window is a later and larger insert. Pair of later C20 inserted cambered headed windows to front range.

Left-hand return, similarly of limestone rubble without an apparent break between front and rear, with C20 sashes to the upper floor. Ground floor obscured behind later coal shed and garage. Tall internal stack to rear range. The rear wall of the kitchen is again patched, with now internal quoins; the first-floor window opening, with an enlarged sash window, has flush brick dressings; the ground-floor window is inserted. The left-hand rear wall also has inserted, altered windows.

INTERIOR: the front range has a large fireplace opening beneath an exposed bressumer, and a timber mantelshelf flanked by C18 built-in cupboards with two-panelled doors of which the lower panel of each is fielded, hung on H hinges and set in a panelled frame; the left-hand cupboard has curved shelves and a brick floor. Windows also have panelled shutters on HL hinges and with shutter bars. Chamfered transverse beam, with 1" chamfer. Room otherwise lined in early C20 panelling, in imitation of the C18. Western room remodelled mid-C20 and later. In the rear range, the kitchen has a plain spine beam. To the west, a semi-subterranean wine cellar leading off lower room, both with brick floors.

The staircase has been moved and reconstructed with additional support straddling the spine wall, which has been removed to accommodate it, and is set over a shallow recess. An open-string stair with shaped tread ends has a slender moulded, ramped rail, columnar newels and stick balusters, two per tread all in later C18 manner. First-floor rooms have mid-C19 reeded fireplace surrounds, one with an ornate mid-C19 basket grate, those in the front range flanked by cupboards with 2-panelled doors with H hinges. Roofs appear to be repaired and in some places rebuilt in C20.

History

The Vicarage appears to be a mid-to late C18 building, that probably predates the earliest reference to it of 1786. It comprises two parallel ranges, built in three separate phases. The 1875 Ordnance Survey Map depicts the current double pile plan with a narrow extension to the rear and outbuildings to the east. Although the house appears to have been altered in the early C20 the footprint shown on the OS maps has changed very little from 1875 to the present day. It has been used as the vicarage until recently.

The house is built on the water's edge, the garden retained by a wall to the west built of stone rubble with brick copings and dressings (which appears to be contemporary with the house). The site stands away from the historic harbour, the medieval church of St Thomas A Becket (Grade I) and the current village but lies close to the suggested site of the Domesday settlement. It is adjacent to the former Chapel of St Andrew, the remains of which stand in the garden of Little Welbourne, an early C18 house (Grade II), where the chapel is listed at Grade II as The Garage of Little Welbourne. Until the harbour silted up in the C15, Pagham was an important port and wealthy parish.

To the side of the house the stone rubble wall leads to a brick, arched carriage opening that would have led previously to a rear yard, where there are now small outbuildings. A low stone rubble wall also continues to the south-west of the house on the line of the western gable wall.

Reasons for Listing

The Vicarage, Pagham, a mid- to later C18 house extended or altered to the rear, probably by the early to mid-C19, and altered again in the later C19 and early C20, is designated Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Materials: vernacular construction with C18 or early C19 flush brick dressings;
* Plan form: accumulated evolution of a house with a typical vernacular plan to the front range, which determines its asymmetrical facade, which has been altered and extended at the rear and internally, creating an unusual double pile plan;
* Fixtures and fittings: C18 cupboard doors, shutters and fittings, repositioned later C18 or early C19 stair; mid-C19 fireplace surrounds and hob grate;
* Historic interest: traditionally the vicarage, and close to the site of the C13 chapel of St Andrew, within the historic village of Pagham, which was a major medieval port.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26676211

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: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living