This is The Old Rectory in 1905 then known as The Vicarage.  Not so different to how it looks now, even the Virginia creeper is the same.

Above are all the photographs in the collection of who has lived in the Rectory since 1869, except one, which is hoped to be in as soon as possible.  This must be some sort of a record for any house of this type and age.

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History of the residents living in The Old Rectory

Starting the history of The Old Rectory, it must first be made clear that the house was really a farmhouse to start with.  Perhaps a quite grand farmhouse for the time. The first person we think lived in the property was Thomas Waldram, who only rented the property during 1589.  He certainly paid tax for a hearth to Rockingham Castle in that year, so he had heating!

The next person we know of,  who certainly lived there, was Thomas Collin, who was a rich man.  He was living in the house in 1669. He set out a charity on the house, that whoever lived in the house for infinity, was to pay 40 shillings for the education of four poor children every year.  This was a great amount of money at this time. The house was thatched, with no chimneys.  The central fireplace allowed the smoke to filter out through gaps in the roof. 

The next owner we know of, was a spinster called Mary Inchley.  She owned all the property, including  a great many barns and acres, and considered rich.  All the other Inchleys in the Village were agricultural workers on low wages.  It is not known if she was related to any of them, and she did not live in the Village.  She rented the property to John Stokes a farmer.  The property is listed and shown on the enclosure plans of 1805.  There was a large barn to the front of the house, many barns at the back, going all around the perimeter wall.  It shows still a back entrance to the fields and then track, and including the carriage circle to the front of the house, which still exists.  The front entrance is still in the same place, but the road to the back then went to the right of the house, instead of the left which is does now.  The house was square, thatched and four floors tall.  New chimneys had been built on the back of the house, consisting of four flues.  It was worth £4.

John Stokes purchased the house in 1810, and he and his family of seven children lived there until 1842, when his wife, Mary died.  His youngest daughter Mary Stokes met Absolom Clarke from Hartford, Kent, who was working in Corby Village in 1841.  They married and lived in The King's Head pub on Barnsdale.  Mary is still seen to be living there in 1901, aged 80.  These are the ancestors of the Clarkes still living in the Village.

The house was then sold to Hugh Moore for £240.  Hugh Moore is shown to have been born in Caldecott. He is shown on the 1841 census to be living with his in-laws, the Tirrells and his wife Caroline.  They have a baby daughter called Emily.  The Tirrells were quite rich, as they had servants living with them also.  Hugh Moore is listed on the census as a Corset Maker.   In 1842 he bought the house from the Stokes family and started turning the old farmhouse into a family home.  This was perhaps where the corsets were first made.  The 1851 census shows them living with a maid and cook, with a framework knitter also on the premises.  In the1861 census he was away, staying with his newly married daughter and her husband, an Architect.  He is shown to own more property.   Also William S Haddon, who was possibly Hugh Moores nephew from Market Harborough, had arrived to the village.  He married Caroline Fox.  He became partner to Hugh Moore, and lived at Vine Cottage.  The work shops were moved down next to their house, later in a converted barn that still exists.   They employed 40 women, 1 man and 1 boy.  Hugh Moore appeared to become a sleeping partner, and moved from the Village in 1868.  He sold the house for £ 805.

The Rev William Cape bought the house in 1869 for use as a Vicarage, as the previous Vicars seemed to have no permanenent address in the Village.  His friend, The Rev Frederick Marshall was the first Vicar to live in the house. The first of many  Vicars that resided until the house was sold by the Church 1963.  Frederick Marshall was the son of The Lord Mayor of London.  He was used to grand houses, so set about altering the original house. A large extension was built on the side, containing a large bedroom, dressing room, hall and dining room.  A large mullioned front door and window to match.  The ceilings of the original kitchens in the basement were lowered, ruining the kitchens, but giving the high ceilings that he required.  The original kitchens were filled with rubble and sealed off.  He then put in all new fireplaces, which as the fashion of the time, had to be in the centre of the main walls, which ment building the flues up in front of existing windows, which in a way didn't matter, as the floors were now much lower, so they were of no use now.  Because he had lost the original kitchens, a new smart set of buildings and extensions were built on the back in brick.  These included an area which housed the servants stairs and seperate entrance, a scullery, the main kitchen with wooden dresser, a state of the art cast iron range, complete with stone surround. Also a cellar was installed to house plenty of wine and slate thrawls.  The whole house had been wired in the walls and under floors for servants bell pulls, and piped out for gas lighting, the only house in the Village at that time to have gas.  They manufactured their own gas in a brick building at the back of the kitchens. They had extra wells dug, although there was already a large well  that fed the house before.   The house was slated, and the pediment was installed on the roof.  Large new stone mullion bay windows were built in the front of the house.  All new marble fireplaces were fitted throughout, with cast iron insets, and a smart modern new staircase and tiled floor finished the whole thing off.  The front stone wall was built outside on the front of the house, with the new stone gate pillars, with elegant iron gates, which are now long gone.  The ground was highered and levelled inside to walls, and the gardens were set out.  In fact , like many houses in the Village at this time,the old house had been thoroughly Victorianised.  The work was partly built by Stanger, the Village builder.  The Rev Marshall died in 1874.  He had only lived in the house for five years, and it is not known if the alterations were completed before his death.  He certainly left his mark on the house.

The next inhabitants were eight Vicars, all very different in personality, the later ones still remembered fondly.  Unfortunately, The Church in it's wisdom decided to half the garden, and build a new Vicarage on the other half.   It then sold the old house to a Mr Cheaney from Desborough for £3500.  He had married a Miss Freeston, who was born in Great Easton, as had her family going back many years.  The Freestons owned the old Post Office.  She had always loved the house from when she was a child, so he bought it for her as a present.

This picture shows a tableau or a play, possibly 'Midsummer Nights Dream' .  Nobody is known in the photograph, which is a pity.  The children are standing outside and between the front two bays on the front of the Rectory.  The strange thing is, that the scale is all wrong.  Look at the lady, center middle.  She looks far in the distance, as she is much smaller than the children,  but there is no distance, as they are just in front of the bays, and it only goes back a few feet, what and who is she, and is she part of the play or from another time?  Look closely at the picture and you will see other oddities......Spooky