gallery

M. L. P 19th Century
The Old Rectory, Euston, Suffolk, 1865

inscribed "Euston Rectory, Suffolk, 1865"

pencil and watercolour
16.50 x 25 cm.
Notes

The Old Rectory, Euston is the only property in Euston which is not part of the Duke of Grafton's Euston estate. The house dates back to the late 17th Century when Lord Arlington bought the estate and trnsfered the parsonage from its site within the Park to its present one on the opposite side of the Thetford Road. After the Second world war the cost of maintaining the Rector became too much for the Church and the Rectory was sold off. It was bought in 1948 by the Duke of Grafton but sold off in 1951 to Rosemary Phelps. In the 1980's it wa sold again to James and Rosemary Macdonald.

Former Rectory. Front range circa 1830: rear range late C18, possibly with older core. 2 storeys and attics. Front range in black knapped flint, with dentil cornice, string course, rusticated quoins and dressings, in white brick. Hipped roof with black glazed pantiles. A range of 4 small-paned sash windows in deep reveals to each storey: 3 flat-headed dormers with sash windows in the slope of the roof. At the east end, a
large 2-storey canted bay added in the later C19: flat roof with parapet, 3 large-paned sash windows to each storey. This extension is carried round the east side of the house, where there is an external chimney-stack and the principal entry with a plain portico. The rear range, in white brick, with black glazed pantiles and hipped 2-span roof, has the appearance of a complete earlier house. 2 internal chimney-stacks. The west face has 3 small-paned sash windows in deep reveals to each storey.

Euston is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located on the A1088 around two miles south of Thetford, in 2005 its population was 130. The parish contains Euston Hall and the surrounding Euston Park designed by William Kent and Capability Brown, as well as the Fakenham Wood SSSI. The parish's northern border is the River Little Ouse, which marks the boundary between Norfolk and Suffolk. Euston Hall is the country seat of the Duke of Grafton.

The parish church in Euston Park is dedicated to Saint Genevieve. The foundation stone was laid by the Duchess of Grafton in 1676; it is the only church in Suffolk to have been built in the 17th century, and is on the site of an earlier medieval building.[3] It has a four-stage tower and round headed windows in a style called "Venetian tracery". The interior is noted for the original wooden box pews, screen and pulpit. Some medieval brasses survive, as well as fine monuments to the Dukes of Grafton buried in the church and the adjacent churchyard. The church is a Grade I Listed building.[4] It is open to the public in the summer months, but regular traditional Sunday services are held throughout the year. The Parish of Euston is part of the Blackbourne Team Ministry. The Icknield Way Path passes through the village on its 110-mile journey from Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire to Knettishall Heath in Suffolk. The Icknield Way Trail, a multi-user route for walkers, horse riders and off-road cyclists also passes through the village.

Barnham Heath Site of Special Scientific Interest is on the western edge of the parish, which also includes land in the Breckland Farmland and Forest SSSI units. Euston Park Endurance is a facility for endurance riding. The Endurance World Championships 2012 took place in Euston Park. The name of the village was first recorded in Domesday Book, and may have been of Anglo-Saxon origin. It has been suggested that it is derived from "Efe's Tun", with "tun" referring to a farmstead and Efe being a personal name.