The Chesil Rectory - TrustNews Dec 05
History
The Chesil Rectory is the oldest house in Winchester. It was previously thought to have dated from 1450 but experts have recently revised this date to the 1420s. It stands in the district of the city known as the Soke, which was formerly under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester. The area that the house is built in is marked on early maps as the village of Chesil. This is corruption of the old English "chisol", meaning a shingly beach or bank. The river was previously much wider than it is now and this area would have been right on its eastern bank. The house itself is very unusual and its design is possibly, unique. Strangely the entire weight of the central valley of the double roof does not fall onto any supporting walls but, via four vertical beams, rests on the central beam of the downstairs passageway. Originally vents in the roof would have let out the smoke, but the walls and roof space would have been smoke blackened and the air quality very poor. The windows were once made up only of a number of vertical wooden security bars and shutters. In bad weather the occupants would have had to choose between being very cold and being in the dark! Although it was probably originally owned by a merchant the house was adopted as the rectory to St Peter's Chesil at the time of the Reformation. In the late 1700s the house was divided into a number of separate tenements, with a family living in each room. Amongst these inhabitants was a shoemaker who started one of Britain's first Sunday Schools in the large upstairs room. The state of the house gradually deteriorated during this period until it was deemed unfit for human habitation in the late 1800s and was very nearly demolished. Fortunately it was bought by Thomas & Co Stores in 1892, at which point it was thoroughly restored. It is most unusual to see such an old building still occupied and "working" -most from this period have either been changed beyond all recognition or are preserved in open air museums. The building does have a ghost, a man who apparently can be heard climbing the stairs at night.Nobody working here has encountered him - yet .....