Listed Building record MDO28019 - Oriel House, formerly The Rectory, Pimperne

A house dated 1712, of two storeys with attics and with nineteenth-century alterations. The building has walls of banded brick and flint and a tiled roof with brick chimney stacks. Sixteenth-century stonework, including a reset stone doorway, has been used in the building. Interior features are reported to include 19th-century plasterwork, joinery and chimney pieces, and the thickness of some internal walls suggests that the building may incoprorate elements of an earlier building. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water.

The rectory, of two storeys with attics, with banded brick and flint walls and tiled roof, is dated 1712. Reset in the present building is part of a 16th century stone doorway and thick walls flanking the central vestibule suggest that elements of an older building are incorporated in 18th century structure. <2>

Additional bibliography. <3>

Oriel House (formerly The Rectory), listed grade 2. <5>

<1> DOE (HHR), 1954, List of Buildings of Special Historic or Architectural Interest: Blandford Rural District, 13 (Scheduling record). SDO17701.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 53 (Monograph). SDO99.

'(4) THE RECTORY (90440936), of two storeys with attics, with walls of brick banded with flint and with tile-covered roofs, is dated 1712. The N.E. front is symmetrical and of five bays. Reset in the centre bay is part of a 16th-century stone doorway with a moulded four-centred head, continuous jambs and plain stops ; the head is original, the rest of the opening is restoration work, presumably of c. 1712. Above the head is a square label and on the margin below the label is a damaged black-letter inscription, recorded by Hutchins as ' [T…..well alias Weber hanc] porticu'. Et capella xpi. Superstruxit, anno d'ni MC [CCCCXXX]' ; the letters enclosed in brackets have now perished, but the others remain legible. Thomas Weaver was rector of Tarrant Hinton (1514-1536), and his initials are found in the decoration of the Easter Sepulchre in that church (see p. 98) ; it is possible that these reset fragments were brought from Hinton. Over the doorway and integral with the label is a niche with a canopied head and shafted jambs; carved under the bracket of the niche is a shield-of-arms of Henry VIII, with crown, garter, dragon and greyhound supporters, and a rose and portcullis on the aproon (cf. Tarrant Gunville (1), Glass). Reset in the upper storey, centrally above the doorway, is a window of three ogee-headed lights with vertical tracery in a square-headed surround ; a stone above the window is inscribed 'Nisi dominus custoderit…..' etc., and the date 1712. The two bays on either side of the central bay in the 18th-century N.E. front have false square-headed windows ; first-floor level is marked by a plain plat-band. The other elevations of the 18th-century N.E. front have false square-headed windows ; first-floor level is marked by a plain plat-band. The other elevations of the 18th-century range have similar details. Inside, the main rooms have 19th-century plasterwork, joinery and chimneypieces. The walls flanking the central vestibule are, however, 3 ft. and 2½ ft. in thickness, suggesting that elements of an older building are incorporated into the 18th-century structure.'

<3> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 316 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<4> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 scale map, 1976 (Map). SDO17396.

(ST 90440936) Rectory (NAT)

<5> DOE (HHR), 1986, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: North Dorset District, 6 (Scheduling record). SDO18297.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209419 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 23 2024 12:43PM