Warton Old Rectory

A rare survival of a large 14th-century stone house with great hall and chambers. It served as a residence and courthouse for the wealthy and powerful rectors of Warton.

Warton Old Rectory is a rare surviving example of a large medieval stone dwelling-house. It was not only a home for the rector of the local church, which was founded in the twelfth century or earlier, but was also a manor where courts were held. It became one of the wealthiest rectories in the diocese of York.

History

By the end of the twelfth century patronage determining the appointment of priests to the position of rector was held by Marmaduke de Thweng. Two of his younger sons, both priests, inherited his property when their elder brother died childless; they were probably responsible for building the rectory in the early fourteenth century. Control of the appointment of rectors was contested between the de Thweng family and the monarch, as Duke of Lancaster, until the sixteenth century.

Unlike monastic houses the rectory was not directly affected by the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth century. It was nevertheless abandoned at an unknown date and is known to have been a ruin by 1721.

The north end of the building was occupied as a cottage until well into the twentieth century, while the site of the medieval hall was roofless. After the site came into the guardianship of the state in 1971 later additions to the rectory were removed, leaving only the medieval parts visible.