Building record 535/5/1 - Church End House

Former rectory. Back range C17, front range early C18, with late C18 and late C19 alterations. Ironstone ashlar, tile roofs, stone end stacks.

{1} Former rectory. Back range C17, front range early C18, with late C18 and late C19 alterations. Ironstone ashlar, tile roofs, stone end stacks. Central staircase plan. 2 storeys and attic; 5-window range. Central door in late C19 2-storey porch with string course and plain parapet. Two plate glass sash windows either side to ground and first floors with moulded stone surrounds. Chamfered plinth, quoins and moulded stone eaves. 3 gabled roof dormers. Stone coped gables with kneelers. Large 2-storey bay window to left side. Lower C17 range to rear with one-storey C19 canted bay window to left side with plate glass sash with timber lintel to first floor. Attached wall to right corner enclosing garden. Interior has good late C18 open well staircase with stick balusters, carved tread-ends and ramped mahogany hand rail.

{3} A watching brief was undertaken during work to replace a series of floors and improve an existing link between the main body of the house (mainly the kitchen area) and an outbuilding to the west. In the outbuilding (now a garden room) there was a large brick-lined tank or cistern below the floor. It clearly took water in, presumably from the roof, from the north and south. Thought to be 19th century. In the passageway, which linked the outbuilding to the main house, there was a circular brick soakaway, although its precise function remained unclear.

{4} Undated photo.

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 16/15 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F05 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN44900.

<3> Polyolbion Archaeology, 2015, Archaeological investigation, monitoring and recording: Church End House, 53 Church Street, Byfield, December 2015, checked (Report). SNN110286.

<4> Photographs of buildings in Byfield (Photographs). SNN111843.

<5> Bailey, B, Pevsner, N, and Cherry, B, 2013, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p. 151 (Book). SNN111989.

Record last edited

Mar 8 2024 11:02AM