Listed Building record MDR10821 - Old Rectory, Church Lane, Shirley

The Old Rectory is a two-storey, L-shaped stone house standing back from the road and facing west. Its north side abuts onto the churchyard, whose ground level has risen to such an extent that a deep trench has had to be cut to protect the wall from damp. The east end of the house adjoins an outbuilding walled in brick with three very fine cruck trusses inside it [SMR 25411]. The earliest features of the house are to be found in the north wall and consist of two square blocked lower windows, and a tall upper opening which has been dated to the 14th century. This wall may be the remains of the solar wing attached to a now-vanished timber-framed hall. In the late 17th century the building was radically reconstructed. The timber hall had decayed or was pulled down, the walls of the two rooms in the stone range were reduced in height, and a stone walled outshot built against the south side. At this stage all openings towards the churchyard were blocked and it looks as if the Rector wished to dissociate himself from his profession. Major alterations took place in the late 18th or early 19th century when the west wall was wholly rebuilt, probably re-using the old stones, and another room was added to the south with a cellar underneath. During the course of the 19th century the eaves were raised all round and the house re-roofed in stages. At the end of the 19th century the door was moved to the middle of the front wall and the parlour entrance blocked up, the front garden being screened off from the churchyard by a high brick wall. Further alterations were made in the 20th century. It is believed that the house ceased to be a rectory in 1824 when the present vicarage was built. (1)