Description

CHIPPENHAM

ST9273SW ST MARY STREET
930-1/10/198 (East side)
25/04/50 No.54
The Old Vicarage and attached
railings

GV II*

Vicarage, now a retirement home. Dated 1678 to north
chimney-stack but with probable late medieval origins to south
end, refronted early C18, partly restored c1929. Limestone
ashlar, probably originally timber-framed; stone slate roof;
ashlar stacks with square diagonally-set shafts to gable ends
and plain stack to centre ridge.
PLAN: 4-unit through-passage plan with late C17/early C18 and
C19 rear wings.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys; 8-window range. Returned cornice and
parapet; rusticated pilasters to quoins; lintel and sill
bands; moulded architraves to early C18 6-over-6-pane sash
windows with thick glazing bars and some old glass; prostyle
Tuscan portico with entablature; cyma-moulded architrave to
doorway with raised-and-fielded 6-panel door. After the
refronting, the wall plates of the steep-pitched roof still
exist behind the 2nd-floor windows to the right of the door.
The floor level to the right can be seen in the top panes of
the 1st-floor windows. An aerial view photograph shows a lead
roof spanning the space between the original roof and the
parapet.
To rear, C17/early C18 pair of gabled attics with 3 and
4-light wooden-mullioned leaded windows (restored c1929);
other rear windows to wings have moulded architraves to
6/6-pane sashes; C19 rear right wing has a splayed bay to the
south end. The sloping site provides a semi-basement to the
rear where C20 windows are inserted into former 2-light
stone-mullioned ground-floor windows.
INTERIOR: north end includes some late medieval timber-framing
to rear and to gable end, and moulded ground floor beams.
Raised-and-fielded panels to shutters to front windows. The
former through-passage, now the hall, has an early C18 dado
rail with raised-and-fielded panelling below and a dentilled
cornice; late C19 polychromatic floor tiles. To the rear right
is an early C18 open-well, open-string staircase with fretted
ends and moulded, swept and wreathed handrail. The room to the
right of the passage has a moulded axial beam and a large
chimney-breast to an open fire with a cyma-moulded architrave.
The room to the far right has full-height raised-and-fielded
panelling and a blocked fireplace to the rear.
The rear right wing has a C19 white marble fireplace and
elaborate cornice. The room to the left of the passage, now a
kitchen, has ogee-stopped chamfered beams to a panelled
ceiling and a former open fire to the gable end. Below it is a
barrel-vaulted cellar.
The early C18 rear left wing has a fully-panelled room with a
box cornice and fire to the left, to the ground floor.
The 1st floor of the main block has a C19 passage along the
rear wall with bolection moulding in early C18 style. The
cornices do not coincide. Rooms to the front have a moulded
axial beam, early C18 box cornices and full-height
raised-and-fielded panelling.
The room to the 1st floor of the left wing, which has thick
glazing bars to 6/6-pane sash windows, is panelled below the
dado rail with flush timber-framing above, implying that this
room had tapestry or silk stretched across it. The 2nd floor
has some C17 planked doors with fine wrought-iron hinges and
some c1929 similar doors with elaborate hinges; one C17 oak
door frame to the right is cyma-moulded, stopped above the
base.
Much of the collar-beam roof is exposed which has sloping
trusses below the tenoned purlins and a ridge-in-notch. The
attic of the 3-bay rear left wing of similar structure has a
small C17 planked oak door with fine wrought-iron hinges and a
wooden lock. Below the right end of the house, the
semi-basement, in course of restoration, is barrel-vaulted.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: plain railings, attached to the sides of
the door and the corners of the house, enclosing narrow
forecourts, have cast-iron anthemion finials.

Listing NGR: ST9232873232

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17544287

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

• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)