The Rectory Moretonhampstead, Devon, England, UK

Listed Building Description

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

MORETONHAMPSTEAD CROSS STREET (south side), SX 7586 Moretonhampstead 8/117 The Rectory including forecourt - area railings and gates GV II

Rectory. Early C19. Roughcast, probably granite rubble. Low pitched 2-span slate hipped roof with lead rolls to the hips. 2 rendered chimney stacks over each side wall. Square double-depth plan with 4 principal rooms, 2 on either side of central entrance hall passage which widens at rear to form a stair well with a rear doorway to the garden. The kitchen and service rooms are in a large 2-storey leanto outshut on the right, the full depth of the house. 2 storeys. Symmetrical 3 bays. Large early C19 12-pane sashes. Centre first floor window is same height but narrower with 8-pane casement. Central Tuscan porch with columns and pilasters supporting an entablature; round-headed doorway with moulded panel reveals, semi-circular fanlight with radiating glazing bars and original moulded 6-panel door, bottom panels flush. Plain corner pilasters. To right side is the leanto kitchen range; to the left a short flanking wall with gateway to garden at rear. Rear elevation: 3-window range, large 12-pane sash windows, centre first floor narrower 8-pane stair window, and central doorway ground floor right bow window with sashes, and left a C20 French window. Including front forecourt over railings; cast iron baluster stanchions with own finials, drapw moulded finials to shafts set in granite plinth. Similar pedestrian gate either end with granite monolith gate-piers with pyramid-shaped tops, and the wide double gates at centre are a C20 alteration made from the original railings. The forecourt is paved in pitched cobbles in a radial pattern. Interior: open-well staircase at back of hall with stick balusters, thin column newel, moulded handrail and an open string with a reeded band. Archway at end of hall passage to stair well with panelled responds. Left-hand front and rear rooms each have simple marble chimneypieces with console brackets, and panelled folding doors between the 2 rooms. The right-hand rooms have been altered and a partition inserted into front right-hand room. Internal inspection only brief and first floor not inspected. The exterior of the house is almost entirely intact. It is set well back from the road behind a railed forecourt and this feature is an important element in Cross Street. The internal plan is also interesting having 4 principal rooms with the service rooms at the side, which allows clear access to the garden from the main house.

Listing NGR: SX7549886017