Description

BICESTER CHURCH STREET
SP5822S (South side)
3/31 The Old Vicarage
03/01/52 (Formerly listed as The
Vicarage)
GV II*

Vicarage, now house. c.1500, altered and extended probably C18 and 1882.
Limestone rubble, partly rendered, and coursed squared limestone with ashlar
dressings; part-old plain-tile roofs with brick and ashlar stacks. Hall house
with cross wing, enlarged to U-plan. 2 storeys and 2 storeys plus attics.
2-window front of rendered main range has C19 stone-mullioned windows at first
floor; C19 stone lean-to addition to ground floor has similar windows with
lattice glazing, and returns beside the short C19 stone wing which projects from
the left of the main range. Half-hipped front gable end of wing has stone
mullioned-and-transomed windows, and there is a 4-centre arched stone doorway in
the end of the lean-to and a parapetted canted bay window at first floor in the
angle of the ranges. Crosswing returns to an earlier random-rubble range, which
has five 2-light casements, facing left, each set into a stone surround of
c.1500 with wide casement mouldings and labels with deep drops; roof has a small
roof dormer. Rear of main range includes a large 2-storey C19 bay window.
Service range returning to rear from right end of main range is probably C18 and
is partly rendered over light framing. Interior: main range comprises a 3-bay
hall, now horizontally divided, but retaining a fine arch-braced collar-truss
roof, with cambered collars, and hollow-chamfered braces extending from the apex
of the arches down to shortened wallposts; rafters are pegged at the ridge and
the 2 rows of butt purlins are supported on heavy arched windbraces. 2-bay roof
of chamber at right end of main range has a similar structure, except that there
is a ridge piece and the central truss is of "scissor" type, formed from opposed
S-shaped braces. The chamber (or solar) contains a Tudor-arched fireplace with a
wooden bressumer, recessed spandrels, and hollow chamfering carried down the
ashlar jambs. The room below has a ceiling with intersecting moulded V-section
beams and very wide hollow-chamfered joists (the plaster boss is probably C19),
and it has 2 Tudor-arched wooden doorways (one blocked), with recessed
spandrels, one doorway retaining an ancient plank door with original
ironmongery. The cross wing has C17/early-C18 and C19 roof structures but
retains a fragment of an earlier roof with a diagonally-set ridge piece. The
present through-passage from the front door, now opening into a C19 stair hall,
is probably on the site of a screens passage. The hall roof is unblackened and a
wide Tudor-arched moulded bressumer, now re-set on its side in a chimneybreast
below the chamber, may be from the missing hall fireplace, possibly on the site
of the present bay window.
(V.C.H.: Oxfordshire, Vol.VI, p.17; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, p.455).

Listing NGR: SP5825522309

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17548121

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy