The Old Rectory, Stable Cottage and yard walls, Walberton, West Sussex

Summary

A former rectory and stable block, now two houses, built in 1864-1865 to the designs of Samuel Sanders Teulon for Reverend Henry Bones.

Description

A former rectory and stable block, now two houses, built in 1864-1865 to the designs of Samuel Sanders Teulon for Reverend Henry Bones.

MATERIALS and PLAN: the walling is polychromatic with red, black and yellow bricks, principally laid in Flemish bond, with rows of headers. Later tile hanging at first-floor level across the western and southern fronts has alternating plain black and red fish-scale tiles, with a plain, tiled, gabled roof. The house has two floors with a partial basement and a pinwheel plan at ground floor level, revolving around a combined staircase and entrance hall. A corridor leads north from here to the service wing.

EXTERIOR: the entrance front, facing west, has the projecting principal block at right and the service range recessed at left. The right-hand block has a gabled, single-storey porch at left with a three-light, stained glass window and polychromatic tympanum, incorporating a stone carved with the cypher ‘HCB’ for Henry Christopher Bones, with decorative bargeboards. The left flank of the porch is the principal entrance with an arched head and plank front door, above which is a circular stone with initials ‘JB’ for John Bones in a trefoil. To right of the projecting porch is a tall, staircase window with arched head and X-shaped transoms. The surround has notched patterns in the woodwork with chamfers and distinctive, jewelled stops which are seen on windows across the building. At right again a broad, slightly-projecting gable has an heraldic shield set in an arched recess at first-floor level, apparently cast in metal. The northern flank of this block has a wide window of four lights to the entrance hall, with does not correspond to the narrower window inside the hall. At first-floor level is a two-light window with a pointed relieving arch. To the left of this grouping is the recessed service wing which has a cluster of four lancet windows to the ground floor, lighting the corridor, above which is a four-light casement, under the eaves. To the left of this is a C20, ground-floor doorway, replacing a former window, with a cross window above. To left of this the projecting gabled wing has the wide, projecting chimney breast rising from the kitchen, with patterned brickwork including a series of offsets with tumbled bricks and ending in a stone cap with miniature crenellations, common to the other stacks across the building. At left again, the service court has a wall to the ground level. The first floor behind this enclosure was extended in the later C19 to supply further bedrooms and has tiled walling, as before with a two-light casement to the first floor.

The southern, garden front has three bays with a projecting gabled bay to either side. That to the left has two-light windows to each floor with mullions and transoms, arched heads and tiled tympana. A similar window is at centre left and the right bay has a two-storey angled bay window with a hipped roof.

The eastern front has a blind gable at left, capped by a chimney stack, as before. To its right is a projecting gabled bay with the square bay window of the dining room at ground-floor level, with four mullioned lights and a hipped roof, above which is a three-light casement window with mullions and transom. Recessed at right the service wing has single, two and three-light windows set in patterned brickwork. A tall window with X-shaped transoms indicates the back stairs. At right is a half-hipped gable and a flush chimney with tumbled brickwork to the offsets, at right of which is the wing that was raised in height, with polychromatic brickwork matching the original structure.

The northern end of the house has the gable end of the raised wing at left, which has a canted oriel window to the first floor supported by four ogee-shaped wooden brackets, rising from a stone corbel. To right is the wall of the service court.

INTERIOR: the entrance porch has three, stained-glass lights and leads to the hall which is divided by a screen of two gothic arches and contains an open-well staircase and an angled fireplace. The staircase has splat balusters with cut-out decoration, ball finials and newel posts supporting angled braces. Window and door surrounds here and throughout the house have roll mouldings to their surrounds with moulded bases. Ground-floor reception rooms have simple cornices. Tubular metal picture rails survive in several rooms. Original carved stone fire surrounds survive on both floors with chamfered surrounds and tiled inserts, but the original kitchen hearth has now been sealed. Doors are mostly four-panelled with chamfered surrounds and shutters have matching surrounds. Brick wine bins with slate shelves remain in the basement.

STABLE RANGE: to the north east of the house is the contemporary stable block and its yard which have now been converted to domestic use. The yard is on the western side with a surrounding wall. The exterior of the stable block has on its western side the blocked arches of the former coach house and stables to left and right respectively of a five light opening which is now glazed but was originally barred. A dormer window with hipped roof marks the position of the original taking-in door for the hay loft. The yard is covered at its southern end by a corrugated roof of later C20 date. The eastern side of the building has a C20 glazed door at left and a two-light window at right with a chimney between with offsets and tumbled brick, as before. To the right is a three-light window. The remainder of this side is joined to a single-storey C20 extension. The southern gable end has a lean-to glass house with brick walling to its lower body which has been partially rebuilt. The interior of the stable range retains the angled fireplace of the former tack room. Other areas have been opened out.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURE: the walls of the stable yard and kitchen yard survive to full height.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 25 March 2022 to reformat the text to current standards

History

The rectory was built from 1864 to 1865 for Revd. Henry Bones, the rector, and paid for by his father, John Bones, who owned the advowson.

Henry Bones was instituted as Rector in October 1863 and discussed designs for a new rectory with Samuel Sanders Teulon in the same month. Teulon sent his plan out to tender to four firms in February 1864 and a builder called James Howes was contracted. Relations with Howes were difficult. Problems included the quality of the sand used (presumably in the mortar mix) and the softness of the bricks, some of which had to be replaced, as well as the quality of some of the the fittings and the standard of finish. The initial price of £1,659 was reduced to £1,379 as a result.

At some time in the later C19 the rectory was extended by the addition of a first floor to the northern end of the house, including the current oriel window, in order to create additional nursery space for Revd. Bones’ growing family. On the southern, garden front the angled bay window which lights the drawing room was extended upwards to also light a first-floor bedroom. Tile hanging was introduced to cover much of the external walling at first-floor level on the western and southern sides of the house, and photographs show that this was in place by the late C19 or early C20. Further, mid-C20 additions and alterations included an additional square bay to the eastern side of the house, forming an extension to the kitchen and matching the original dining room window. On the western side the original service court was partially roofed to create a conservatory and the original kitchen was converted to a sitting room. The coach house was also significantly extended to the east following its conversion to domestic use.

The footprint of the rectory as shown on the Ordnance Survey (OS) map published in 1876 remains largely the same, with the exception of the former pantry, extended in the 1970s to create the present kitchen. The original kitchen yard of the main house has been converted to create a sun room and the former kitchen has now been made into a living room. The stable block was extended to the east in the mid-C20 by the addition of bedrooms and a conservatory.

Samuel Sanders Teulon is a noted architect of the mid-Victorian period. He produced many designs for churches and clergy houses across England. His architectural style, which began as a re-interpretation of Tudor motifs for relativley compact clergy houses became in the late 1850s and onwards much more assertive, using structural, poychromatic patterning, assymetrical massing and large-scale Gothic detailing to dramatic effect.

Reasons for Listing

The Old Rectory, Stable Cottage and yard walls, Binsted, West Sussex, designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon and built in 1864-1865 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the rectory is a well-designed example of a Victorian clergy house which clearly shows the planning of the house and its service areas and which retains a high degree of its original appearance, fixtures and fittings.

Historic interest:

* the design, by the noted Victorian architect SS Teulon, is a relatively early example of the High Victorian type called ‘Modern Gothic’, combining polychromatic decoration and asymmetrical forms with modern technology, such as plate glass windows, in a consciously assertive aesthetic.

Group value:

* with the Church of St Mary, Binsted (Grade II*).

External Links

Historic England Listing

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