The Georgians
Langar Rectory
It is called Langar House now, but it was built as the Rectory in 1722, a very fine house for the priest of Langar-cum-Barnstone.
Apart from Langar Hall, the Rectory is the biggest house in the village. You can't see much over the high wall, but if you climb a tree, this is what you will see.
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The Church sold the Rectory in the 1950s and it is now a private house. If you want to buy it now, it would cost over £2 million.
There has been a church at Langar since the 13th century (and maybe earlier.) The Rector lived somewhere, but nobody is sure where. In 1708 Emanuel Scrope Howe, Lord Howe gave some of his land to the church to build a new rectory and he kept the land where the old rectory had been. The old rectory was probably in a field on Cropwell Road near Main Street. There is no sign of the house now, but wall along the the side of the field may show where a walled garden was.
Nobody knows why Lord Howe built a new rectory - he may have wanted to extend his parkland. Lord Howe may also have moved Cropwell Road. The old road may have run from the end of Church Lane right in front of Lord Howe's Langar Hall. He would not have liked that! Did Lord Howe change the route of the road to go down Main Street and onto a new road which is now Cropwell Road? Nobody knows.
Nobody knows what the old Rectory looked like, but it was probably a large timber-framed house.
By 1708 the Rectory was in a poor state. Lord Howe wrote that 'the parsonage house is very much out of repairs and must be rebuilt.'
The new Rectory was finished by 1722, but Samuel Bradgate never lived in it - he died in 1714. The first Rector to live there was Benedict Sherard, Rector of Langar cum Barnstone from 1722 until his death in 1753.
This is the document in Nottinghamshire County Archives agreeing to the deal:
Whereas proposal has been made by the Right Honourable Lord How Patron of the Church of Langar in the County of Nottingham for making an exchange with Samuel Bradgate to the present incumbent of all that polls or parcel of Ground on which the parsonage house now stands vis thoseto adjoining called or known by the name of His Homestead containing by estimation three acres or thereabouts.
By giving in lieu for the same so much other lands lying or being in Langar aforesaid and near the church as shall be adjudged an ample equivalent for the same and whereas his said parsonage house very much out of repairs and must be rebuilt.
The said Lord How hath promised to give the said Sam Bradgate 20,000 Brick and Two timber trees towards the rebuilding of same.
Now know all men by these marks xxxxxx that the said Sam Bradgate do hereby consent and agree that on the said Lord How giving those quantity of Brick and Timber abovementioned such exchange shall be made as aforesaid on such terms as the Archbishop of York shall think fit to accept and approve on. And I do promise together with the said Archbishop to execute conveyance for such exchange when agreed upon as aforesaid. In witness whereof I have here unto set my hand and seal this 8th day of May in the 7th year of the reign of our sovereign Lady Ann, 1708.
Sam Bradgate
Sealed and delivered in the presence of T. Hall Robt. Sherard
(Note: The spelling has been modernised.)
There is a detailed description of the Rectory in 1770 which was built with '20,000 Bricks and Two timber trees' paid for by Lord Emanuel Scrope Howe:
A house built of brick & covered with tiles & lead containing 15 rooms, besides cellars. There are 6 boarded floors, an unwainscoated parlour, a wainscoated parlour & chamber, two chambers half wainscoated & papered.
The Hall, Kitchen & Pantry are floored with stone, the 6 upper floors with plaster.
All the rooms in the house are ceiled.
Notes:
- The new Rectory was the first house in Langar to be built of brick and roofed with tiles. Brick was a material used more and more in the 18th century, first by wealthy people, but by the end of the century all new houses were made of brick. The roof was tiled - the houses of the ordinary people were thatched with straw.
- One of the parlours (living room or sitting room) was wainscoated - the walls were panelled with wood. Two of the rooms were wallpapered - wallpaper was expensive. In 1712, during Queen Anne's reign, a wallpaper tax was introduced of 1d (1 penny) per square yard. Only rich people could afford wallpaper so they could also afford to pay the tax. Wallpaper was very fashionable - Britain was a world leader and exporter of wallpaper.
- Some floors were covered with stone - the floors of ordinary houses were earth floors covered with straw. Some floors were boarded - long wide strips of wood (as in modern houses). Other floors were plastered - a layer of reeds or long thin strips of wood (laths) was laid across the joists and plastered with a substance called lime ash. This sets as hard as concrete.
- All the rooms were ceiled (sealed) - they had ceilings. The cottages in the village had no ceilings - you could look up and see the rafters supporting the roof.
All in all - this was very POSH.
Look at the list below of out-houses - you can see that the Rectory was also a farm.
There was a dairy (for milking the cows to make butter and cheese), there was a hen house (for eggs), a calf house, a stable (for horses), two pigsties and a barn (for storing hay, straw and grain).
The Rector farmed 250 acres of land belonging to the church; many of the fields were near Harby Lane. Some fields he rented to other farmers, some fields he farmed himself, using a farm manager to oversee the work.
Now here's a surprise:
Some of the fields still do belong to the church. They are now rented out to other farmers.
Langar Rectory - Outhouses
Out-houses built with brick & covered with tiles:
A Brewhouse 18 feet 6 inches by 5 feet 6 inches.
Flowerhouse 7 feet 3 inches by 5 feet 10 inches,
Dairy 9 feet by 5 feet 10 inches.
Coal House 6 feet by 5 feet.
Chicken House 6 feet by 5 feet.
Calf House 6 feet by 5 feet.
Bottle House 6 feet by 5 feet.
Stable 23 feet by 15 feet 6 inches.
Barn 24 feet by 15 feet 6.
Hogsty 8 feet by 6 feet. Ditto 8 feet by 6 feet.
Necessary House 6 feet 9 inches by 6 feet.
Ditto 6 feet 9 inches by 4 feet.
Knife House (now thrown to the Dairy)
7 feet 6 inches by 4 feet.
Notes:
Brewhouse - Many people made their own beer which was brewed during the summer months. Weak beer was a common drink for everyone, adults and children.
Coal House - In the 18th century coal was used for heating and cooking instead of wood and not only by the rich. Coal is a more efficient fuel and burns more slowly than wood. It was mined north of Nottingham.
Hogsty - pigsty. 'Ditto' means the same again, in other words another pigsty. Everyone kept a pig or two if they could. Pigs eat almost anything and every part of a pig can be eaten (except the squeal!)
Necessary House - the toilet. It was very posh to have a separate toilet rather than a pot under your bed.
Knife House - where knives were sharpened. It was now added to the dairy.
A piece of ground without [outside] the West End of the Garden, planted with Walnuts & other trees, containing half a rood. A Garden & Courtyard walled-in containing half an acre. A Yard and Home Close [field], containing two acres & one rood. All these abutted & bounded North by Lord Howe’s Plantation & Park, South by ye [the] road to Barnstone, the same to the East; West by a small plantation of Ashes.
Here's a job for somebody:
It says there are walnut trees outside the west end of the garden. Are they still there?
Also at the west end is a small plantation of ash trees. Are they still there?
↓ The Rectory garden was bigger in 1770. Now Langar School has been built on it. ↓
