Vicarsfield Rectory

Detached three-bay three-storey Gothic-style glebe house with dormer attic, c.1800, with single-bay full-height entrance breakfront, and three-bay three-storey return to north. In use as rectory, 1903. Renovated. Now in private residential use. Pitched slate roof behind parapet (hipped to return) with clay ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks, and cast-iron rainwater goods on slightly overhanging eaves. Random rubble limestone wall to front (south) elevation originally rendered with render removed, painted rendered plinth having cut-limestone stringcourse, unpainted rendered battlemented parapet on profiled course (crow-stepped parapets to side elevations having cut-limestone coping), and unpainted rendered walls to remainder (over slate hanging to return). Square-headed window openings (quatrefoil window openings to gables to side elevations) with cut-limestone sills, concealed red brick block-and-start surrounds (exposed to front (south) elevation), six-over-nine (ground floor), six-over-six (remainder) timber sash windows to main block having fixed-pane timber windows to quatrefoil openings, six-over-six and three-over-six (top) floor timber sash windows to return. Segmental-headed door opening approached by nine cut-limestone steps having wrought iron railings, cut-limestone Doric doorcase incorporating archivolt, and timber panelled door having fanlight. Interior with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set back from road in own grounds with cut-limestone piers having cut-limestone capping, and wrought iron double gates having arrow-head finials.

A very well composed substantial house representing an important element of the late eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century architectural heritage of County Kilkenny on account of the original intended use as an ecclesiastical residence, thereby surviving as a reminder of the once prosperous Church of Ireland community in the locality. Combining Classically-derived details with Gothic-style motifs in a somewhat eclectic manner the architectural design value of the house is further identified by attributes including the gradual diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor, thereby enhancing the formal quality of the composition. Having been reasonably well maintained the house presents an early aspect with the original form and massing in place together with most of the historic fabric both to the exterior and to the interior: however, the exposure of sections of the limestone construction may have a negative impact on the fabric of the house in the long term. Forming the centrepiece of a middle-size landholding (with 12403123/KK-31-23) the resulting ensemble makes a valuable visual statement in a rural setting.