SNN111976 - Historic Building Recording: Outbuildings at the Old Vicarage, 14 Church Street, Brixworth

In May 2019, historic building survey was undertaken of the Brew House and Coach House at the Old Vicarage, Brixworth, Northants, prior to their refurbishment and conversion to use for holiday letting. The Brew House and Coach House form part of a group of outbuildings built to provide a range of services to the Old Vicarage, a Grade II listed building constructed in the early 19th century to the west of All Saints’ Church. Both buildings (now in varying states of collapse) have two storeys and are constructed in local limestone, originally with slate roofs. Photographic evidence reveals that the upper part of the west elevation of the Brew House was originally weatherboarded, presumably on a timber frame. The Brew House is very ruinous and few clues as to its original function survive. Notwithstanding its name, it seems unlikely that a 19th-century vicarage would be provided with a brewhouse. Its final function was as a youth club: this only seems to have hastened its decay. The Coach House contains all the elements that confirm its function: somewhere to store a small horse-drawn vehicle; a stable for horses; a tack room and loft storage for hay and fodder. However, it is also evident from this survey that the building had an earlier phase of use, with a different function which it has not been possible to determine. Its more recent uses were as a garage for the vicar’s car, and most recently as a workshop.