Hartburn Old Vicarage (Hartburn)
The Old Vicarage at Hartburn. Photo by Peter Ryder.
(NZ 08928609) Tower (rems of). (1)
The oldest part of the vicarage is the pele tower, with heavy masonry, chamfered pediment and vaulted ceiling. (2)
Connected to the north west angle of the vicarage, but now a separate dwelling, is a much-modernised building, with walls up to 1m thick and a barrel vaulted ceiling to the ground floor. Probably the remains of a pele. See photograph. (3)
Old Vicarage. Grade II.
Former vicarage, now two houses. North wing medieval, main block probably 16th century. The north wing is probably a 13th or 14th century undefended hall house; the two opposed doors indicate a passage through the solar undercroft. The main block has walls 0.95m thick and massive rubble, suggesting a 16th century date. Interior of the north wing, west part ('the tower') has stone barrel vault and old doorway with chamfered jambs, column-on-vase stairhead balustrade. (4)
The Old Vicarage consists of a five-bay three-storey north-south block with walls 0.9m thick. These are constructed of heavy rubble, except for the top floor, apparently an addition, which is coursed rubble. The three-bay two-storey south east wing of c.1760 is of squared tooled stone. At the north end is Vicarage Cottage which forms in plan a two-storeyed cross-wing to the main block. This has a north elevation of three irregular bays and is a jigsaw puzzle of different fabric types.
Vicarage Cottage is a very complex structure and has only been inspected very briefly. It appears to be the earliest part of the building and is sometimes referred to as part of a tower. Its western part has a north-south barrel vault to the basement. This section has a chamfered plinth and a pair of small pilaster buttresses at the north west corner; there are remains of two further buttresses on the west, with a blocked door between them. This doorway has a rather strange shouldered segmental head and remains of drawbar tunnels in its jambs. It is unusually wide, c.1.3m, for an external doorway to a defensible house and appears, despite its antiquity, to be secondary as it cuts into the buttresses on either side. Beyond the buttresses are square-headed windows with chamfered surrounds, the northern blocked. The southern has a recut sill and sockets for no fewer than five bars in its lintel.
The south wall of this range (the section projecting west beyond the main block of the Old Vicarage) has a blocked doorway of 18th century type and a straight joint that might indicate that the medieval west wall continued further south.
The north wall of the Cottage has been much altered. Its western half (ie the part with the basement vault) is slightly taller than the eastern; quoins in the wall appear to imply that this section was two-storeyed at a time when the remainder was lower. The eastern half of the Cottage is on a markedly different alignment to the western, but the chamfered plinth is continuous (although the walling above seems largely rebuilt) and there are remains of another early buttress at the east end of the wall. This buttress and the east wall of the Cottage, have a two-part plinth, the upper member steeply chamfered and the lower with a narrower chamfer. The upper member is broken by another pilaster buttress on the east wall, refashioned so as to form one jamb of a gateway into the yard behind the Old Vicarage. The wall above certainly contains some old fabric; near its centre is a blocked ground floor loop, its surround formed by four slabs, in the manner of many bastle slit vents.
Internally, the vaulted kitchen at the west end of the Cottage has a doorway in its east wall, apparently opposite that on the west. This too is quite wide and seems to have had its head cut to an unusual round-cornered form.
The main block of the Old Vicarage has been remodelled in the 18th and 19th centuries and only indistinct traces remain of older openings, except for remains of a chamfered (mullioned?) window near the north end of the west wall at ground floor level and a similar window near the south end of the east wall on the first floor, above the roof of an 18th century outshut. A pair of opposed ground floor doorways are indicated by door jambs visible beneath the sill of the second window from the south in the west wall and a deep recess, now a cupboard, in a corresponding position in the east wall. A splayed recess near the east end of the south wall, also now a cupboard, probably indicates an earlier opening.
The south east wing is the 18th century extension built by Dr Sharpe and remodelled internally by John Dobson in the mid-19th century.
INTERPRETATION: This is an important structure. Vicarage Cottage is probably one of the earliest secular buildings (other than the great castles) in the county. The pilaster buttresses and steep plinth of Vicarage Cottage look to be of 13th century date. The vaulted undercroft with its opposed doorways may be the basement of a service wing with a through-passage that gave access to a detached kitchen. This interpretation would make the eastern part of the Cottage, more heavily rebuilt, the original hall.
The main north-south block of the Old Vicarage is generally ascribed to the 16th century. This would tally with the character of its fabric, although its relationship in plan with the older Cottage,
forming a cross-wing at its north end, is reminiscent of that of hall and cross-wing. The lack of heavy quoining at its south western corner might imply that this has been rebuilt, possibly because there had been a cross-wing at this end as well.
With the possibility of a second cross-wing and a detached kitchen west of Vicarage Cottage, the area of the present garden could be of archaeological significance. (5)
A pele was originally built as a free-standing building in the early years of the 12th century, and the church later extended to join it. The tithe corn was stored in the vaulted ground floor, monks from Tynemouth Priory occupying the upper floor. Between 1250 and 1312 the Templars held the manor and church, significantly altered the church, and built a new vicarage with pele to the North-West. The vicarage was extende in the reigns of Edward VI and George II, and is now a mansion. (6a)
The oldest part of the vicarage is the pele tower, with heavy masonry, chamfered pediment and vaulted ceiling. (2)
Connected to the north west angle of the vicarage, but now a separate dwelling, is a much-modernised building, with walls up to 1m thick and a barrel vaulted ceiling to the ground floor. Probably the remains of a pele. See photograph. (3)
Old Vicarage. Grade II.
Former vicarage, now two houses. North wing medieval, main block probably 16th century. The north wing is probably a 13th or 14th century undefended hall house; the two opposed doors indicate a passage through the solar undercroft. The main block has walls 0.95m thick and massive rubble, suggesting a 16th century date. Interior of the north wing, west part ('the tower') has stone barrel vault and old doorway with chamfered jambs, column-on-vase stairhead balustrade. (4)
The Old Vicarage consists of a five-bay three-storey north-south block with walls 0.9m thick. These are constructed of heavy rubble, except for the top floor, apparently an addition, which is coursed rubble. The three-bay two-storey south east wing of c.1760 is of squared tooled stone. At the north end is Vicarage Cottage which forms in plan a two-storeyed cross-wing to the main block. This has a north elevation of three irregular bays and is a jigsaw puzzle of different fabric types.
Vicarage Cottage is a very complex structure and has only been inspected very briefly. It appears to be the earliest part of the building and is sometimes referred to as part of a tower. Its western part has a north-south barrel vault to the basement. This section has a chamfered plinth and a pair of small pilaster buttresses at the north west corner; there are remains of two further buttresses on the west, with a blocked door between them. This doorway has a rather strange shouldered segmental head and remains of drawbar tunnels in its jambs. It is unusually wide, c.1.3m, for an external doorway to a defensible house and appears, despite its antiquity, to be secondary as it cuts into the buttresses on either side. Beyond the buttresses are square-headed windows with chamfered surrounds, the northern blocked. The southern has a recut sill and sockets for no fewer than five bars in its lintel.
The south wall of this range (the section projecting west beyond the main block of the Old Vicarage) has a blocked doorway of 18th century type and a straight joint that might indicate that the medieval west wall continued further south.
The north wall of the Cottage has been much altered. Its western half (ie the part with the basement vault) is slightly taller than the eastern; quoins in the wall appear to imply that this section was two-storeyed at a time when the remainder was lower. The eastern half of the Cottage is on a markedly different alignment to the western, but the chamfered plinth is continuous (although the walling above seems largely rebuilt) and there are remains of another early buttress at the east end of the wall. This buttress and the east wall of the Cottage, have a two-part plinth, the upper member steeply chamfered and the lower with a narrower chamfer. The upper member is broken by another pilaster buttress on the east wall, refashioned so as to form one jamb of a gateway into the yard behind the Old Vicarage. The wall above certainly contains some old fabric; near its centre is a blocked ground floor loop, its surround formed by four slabs, in the manner of many bastle slit vents.
Internally, the vaulted kitchen at the west end of the Cottage has a doorway in its east wall, apparently opposite that on the west. This too is quite wide and seems to have had its head cut to an unusual round-cornered form.
The main block of the Old Vicarage has been remodelled in the 18th and 19th centuries and only indistinct traces remain of older openings, except for remains of a chamfered (mullioned?) window near the north end of the west wall at ground floor level and a similar window near the south end of the east wall on the first floor, above the roof of an 18th century outshut. A pair of opposed ground floor doorways are indicated by door jambs visible beneath the sill of the second window from the south in the west wall and a deep recess, now a cupboard, in a corresponding position in the east wall. A splayed recess near the east end of the south wall, also now a cupboard, probably indicates an earlier opening.
The south east wing is the 18th century extension built by Dr Sharpe and remodelled internally by John Dobson in the mid-19th century.
INTERPRETATION: This is an important structure. Vicarage Cottage is probably one of the earliest secular buildings (other than the great castles) in the county. The pilaster buttresses and steep plinth of Vicarage Cottage look to be of 13th century date. The vaulted undercroft with its opposed doorways may be the basement of a service wing with a through-passage that gave access to a detached kitchen. This interpretation would make the eastern part of the Cottage, more heavily rebuilt, the original hall.
The main north-south block of the Old Vicarage is generally ascribed to the 16th century. This would tally with the character of its fabric, although its relationship in plan with the older Cottage,
forming a cross-wing at its north end, is reminiscent of that of hall and cross-wing. The lack of heavy quoining at its south western corner might imply that this has been rebuilt, possibly because there had been a cross-wing at this end as well.
With the possibility of a second cross-wing and a detached kitchen west of Vicarage Cottage, the area of the present garden could be of archaeological significance. (5)
A pele was originally built as a free-standing building in the early years of the 12th century, and the church later extended to join it. The tithe corn was stored in the vaulted ground floor, monks from Tynemouth Priory occupying the upper floor. Between 1250 and 1312 the Templars held the manor and church, significantly altered the church, and built a new vicarage with pele to the North-West. The vicarage was extende in the reigns of Edward VI and George II, and is now a mansion. (6a)
N10452
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1968; D Smith
WATCHING BRIEF, Old Vicarage, Hartburn 2005; Bamburgh Research Project
WATCHING BRIEF, Old Vicarage, Hartburn 2005; Bamburgh Research Project
Disclaimer -
Please note that this information has been compiled from a number of different sources. Durham County Council and Northumberland County Council can accept no responsibility for any inaccuracy contained therein. If you wish to use/copy any of the images, please ensure that you read the Copyright information provided.