Rectory (aspect one), St. Mary's Lydiard Tregoze, mid-twentieth century

The stone-built nineteenth-century rectory stood on the north side of Hay Lane. It was abandoned in 1956 and stood derelict for many years before being demolished in the 1980s.

The building replaced a substantial parsonage that stood just to the South East of St. Mary’s Church that Richard Miles, Rector of Lydiard Tregoze between 1780 and 1839, considered unfit to live in, preferring to reside in Wootten Bassett.

The Lydiard Archives hold several images of the Rectory and a fond account (Friends of Lydiard Tregoz Report no 30) by Margaret North ne Willets whose father was rector between 1936 – 1955. Reflecting on their arrival Margaret wrote: ‘We were enchanted with the house and the glorious garden. After our town garden in Hull this beautiful garden, lovingly tended by Mr Shades of Purton, was a glimpse of heaven. The herbaceous borders were a riot of colour. The rose beds and lawns were expertly tended and, joy of joys, there was a grass tennis court and a round summer house with a thatched roof.’