The flower arranger of this display decided to use the the theme of garden parties, these were held in the Rectory gardens during the 20thC to raise funds for either the church or the school.

Courtesy of Tony Stokes

Location: near The Green, Up Street.

Description: Grade II. The original core of the house is C16th with extensive early C19th additions.

History

The Seventeenth Century

    In the Hearth Tax returns for 1662 and 1674, the Rector is liable for tax on eight hearths so this was a considerable house for its time although nowhere near the size of Bardwell Place in the ownership of Madam Read who paid tax on 18 hearths.
    When The Revd. Arthur Heron died in 1675 an inventory was drawn up of all his possessions and where these items were placed in the house so we have a good idea what the house was like. In the hall there was a table, benches, 7 chairs and a library cupboard. In the parlour there were two little tables, a cupboard and a pair of andirons. Upstairs above the parlour was the parlour chamber which contained a bed with its furnishings, a chest of drawers, six chairs and some fire irons. In the study were books valued at £100. Above the study was the study chamber, with a half headed bedstead, a trundle bed, a small table and two chairs. In the hall chamber, above the hall was a poster bed, a trundle bed, a chest of drawers and a trunk. In the kitchen chamber, above the kitchen, was a four poster bed with furnishings, a chest, a trunk and other lumber. In the kitchen were two tables, a press cupboard, a grate with spits, irons and a dripping pan. There was a brew house with various copper brewing vessels, valued at £9. The Rector also owned pewter and brass to the value of £4. In the buttery there were plates and linen worth more than £40. Clothes were worth £10 and ready money and money owing to the Rector amounted to £93. In the stable was an old mare, a young brown mare, two carts, a plough and a harrow. In the barn (probably the Tithe Barn) was hay and corn worth £10, two carts, a great copper and some hops. In the yard were five cows, a calf, together worth £20, two carts, some wood and some farm implements. Growing on his field was a crop of rye valued at £363-19s-7d. Three hundred and thirty two years ago before the later additions the Rectory had a hall, kitchen, parlour, study, four bedrooms, a brew house, buttery, barn and stable.          
    In 1678, the house is described as the “tenement built called and known by the name of the Parsonage House with the barns, stables, outhouses, gardens and orchard with a croft adjoining”   Tenement means that the Rector or perhaps he was known as a parson at that time, was a tenant of the Church Authorities, he did not own the house.

The Nineteenth Century
    The newer part of the Rectory was built by the Revd. Henry Adams directly after his appointment as Rector. During his time in the parish the Revd. Adams acquired various pieces of land and several properties in the village, these included Croft House and The Old Farmhouse. In his will of 1852 he specified that an offer should be made to his successor in the living, of purchasing the Croft, and the two cottages upon it, for £400. It appears that his successor, Mr Dunlap, took up this offer. One of the cottages was dilapidated and was pulled down in 1856. Rectory Cottage was rebuilt by Canon Warren in 1891, soon after his appointment.

The Twentieth Century
During this period there were many events to raise funds for the Church and the School, the Rectors who were resident at the time gave their permission for events such as Garden Parties and Fetes to be held in the Rectory grounds.  The Rectory was sold into private ownership in the 1970’s.