The house was previously a rectory. The dominant square block was built in the 18th century as an elegant addition to what had been a couple of cottages, in order to create a comfortable family home for the rector. It was clad in local green limestone on two sides, the south facing front and the west side facing the church. The back of the house was brick and flint. In the 1930s, the house was turned around by the architect Gerald Wellesley. So the brick facade became the front with a Venetian window in its centre and a "Georgian" front door.
Almost all the external fabric of the building has been left as it was found. Only a service block added on to the side of the building was demolished. In its place a side entrance and porch of green oak was built on at ground level and at first floor level. At first floor level, where there had been a door linking to old extension, there is now a hit and miss window, a scar leftover from the demolition and a peephole over the entrance to the house.