MEM25401 - Post-medieval garden at The Old Rectory (Monument)

An area of rectory gardens. It was enlarged in the mid to late 19th Century, before the southwestern section was subdivided to allow the creation of a house and garden (Windrush). The garden contains three wells, which may include MSO11783.

A large open parcel is shown to the south of the rectory (MSO10632), which is ringed by paths. It is labelled 318, together with the main rectory and courtyard service buildings to the north; these are described in the Apportionment as "The Rectory Garden Lawns and Offices". [1] By the time the 25 inch 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map was surveyed, the garden had been expanded to the southwest to include an area shown as an orchard on the Tithe Map [1]. It is shown with a network of paths and several trees scattered throughout the site. Entrance to the garden also appears to have been moved; this was previously in the northwestern corner (southwest of the Rectory), but by the 1890s a hole had been punched through the southernmost courtyard buildings to the northeast of the garden (MEM24752) to allow access. A well is marked in the original area of the garden at SS 9385 4330. [2] The garden is similarly shown on the 25 inch 2nd Edition map, although no trees and fewer paths are shown. As well as the original well, two further wells are shown, at SS 9383 4328 and SS 9384 4333. [3] By the time the 2022 MasterMap was surveyed, the southwestern area of the garden had been removed from the garden, with an entrance punched through the boundary of the garden on the western side (see MEM24778). It is now occupied by a house named "Windrush". The garden has also been expanded slightly to the northeast, enabled by the removal of some of the courtyard service buildings adjacent to the Rectory (MEM24752). [4] It has been suggested that the holy well recorded as MSO11783 is the well marked within the garden on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map, at SS 9385 4330. [5]