Over the generations Welton has had several vicarages. The earliest reference we have so far relates to The Old House opposite the green on the corner of Kiln Lane. In the 18th century, it housed vicar Richard Nicholls who may have been responsible for some development of the property – possibly the “N” from the date stone refers to him. Meanwhile his curate, somewhat miserably, resided in the original vicarage. Church records show that in 1802, John Plomer Clarke exchanged part of The Stone House estate for an old dilapidated vicarage and incorporated the 1/3 acre plot with vicarage and barn into his garden at Welton Place. The original vicarage was to the West of the Church and given the position of the priest’s door in chancel, probably where the bungalow on the corner of Welton Park sits today.
The succeeding vicar, Rev Simon Adams and Thomas Duncomb a sequestrator, also lived at the Old House, before it was bought by farmer Thomas Gibbons in 1846.
It was probably at this point that The Stone House at the top of the village became the vicarage. This included the period during which Rev Daniel Darnell was vicar (1846-1894). When Darnell retired in 1894, he continued to live, until his death in 1897, in The Stone House (which he referred to as ‘The Cottage”). The Stone House then ceased to be the vicarage and was advertised in The London Guardian on Wed 1st September 1897 as an unfurnished “cottage” for retired clergy and church workers, being let to the vicar of Ashby St Ledgers. The Church had by 1884 (but possibly rather earlier) built a new vicarage adjoining and connecting to The Stone House and this is what is pictured above.
It was here that Darnell’s successor, Rev Edward Liddle, lived during his tenure as vicar between 1894 and 1902. It continued to operate as the vicarage until some time shortly before 1955, when it was demolished and Harrington House was built as the “new” vicarage, when it probably accommodated Rev John Gordon Taylor Kinnersley-Taylor, who was vicar of Welton for just three years.
When the photo was first received, we were not immediately certain this was a photograph of Welton’s “old” vicarage.
However closer scrutiny of the front door revealed that this door can now be found as a back door to its original partner property, The Stone House ! (opposite) Evidently at the time of demolition this door was salvaged and put to good use elsewhere.
The current property was built largely on the footprint of the old vicarage; a survey completed by the current owners revealed that the far end of the house has subsided slightly as it was built on previously undeveloped land, whilst the main house stood clearly on the platform of an earlier property, although with a slightly different orientation
Photo above; aerial view of new vicarage showing proximity to The Stone House (top left)
The new vicarage of Welton closed around 2005/6, probably when the last resident vicar, Ann Slater left, at which point the property became privately owned by the Holt family, who undertook some further development of the property, converting the garage into a lounge and building a bedroom above it. A greenhouse was built over what had previously been chicken sheds.
