Description

TQ 56 43 BIDBOROUGH RECTORY DRIVE

11/28 Wyatts

II

Former rectory. Circa 1790 "after a design of Mr. Wyatt's" (Hasted), built for the rector, Mr. Brock. Addition and minor internal alterations of the 1860s. Flemish bond brick, painted grey; slate roof; brick stacks.

Plan and Development: A deep, rectangular west-facing block with a 2-storey bow in the centre front. The principal rooms are to the front: the dining room in the centre with the entrance hall behind, flanked on the left (north) by the parlour with the stair behind and, on the right, by the study, which is the full depth of the house. The services are in a half basement. The parlour and dining room share the left hand axial stack, the basement kitchen and study share the right hand one. In the 1860s a rear left (north east) wing was added at right angles to the main block in a sympathetic style. A new entrance was provided with a porch in the angle between the wing and the main block. At the same time the study window on the front elevation was blocked, probably to give more space to furniture or bookshelves. The house has been very little altered since.

Exterior: 2 storeys and attic with a half basement. Gabled roof with deep eaves. Symmetrical 1:3:1 window front, the 3 windows to the central bow. Original 12-pane hornless sashes to the ground floor, the right hand window blocked internally. Original 6-pane sashes to the first floor and half basement,the left hand window a C20 replacement. The rear elevation rises as a gable in the centre with a round-headed original sash with margin glazing, there are matching windows to the attic storey on the gable ends. On the right (south) end the eaves return forming a pediment. 1860s porch on the rear with Doric columns supporting a glazed roof and a C20 2-leaf outer door. The 1860s north-east wing has 2-pane horned sashes, the attic window round- headed, the basement windows 6-pane sashes.

Interior: Well-preserved with many original features including pretty Adam style chimney-pieces to the parlour and dining room; plaster friezes; egg and dart cornices and shutters, those on the ground floor horizontal but vertical sliding shutters to the first floor. The full-height, paired doors from the entrance hall to the study are also late C18 with a blocked fanlight. The plain stick baluster stair has a mahogany handrail, the balustrade bowed out on the attic storey. C18 chimney-pieces also survive on the first floor, with C18 or early C19 grates of various designs. The kitchen and service rooms in the basement are also intact. The kitchen has a tiled floor, original chimney-piece, separate bread oven and its original exposed chamfered ceiling beams with runout stops, an interesting example of the use of old-fashioned design for the service quarters.

An unusually complete and unspoiled late C18 gentry house.

Listing NGR: TQ5653643366

External Links

• Wikidata Q26541132

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Recommended Books

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
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  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
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  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)