Editing ALVATIA: Ingsby - Rectory (section)

==The Rectory==

Amidst a small croft of an acre or so sits the rectory, or priest's house. 

The croft contains a couple of flimsy animal sheds, a coop, several fruit trees, a dungheap, etc. It is surrounded by a low (3 feet) fieldstone wall along the road, and wooden or thatch fencing on the other sides. The croft has two gates, one in the stone wall facing the road and one facing the shrine. 

The rectory itself is a four bay cruck-framed wattle and daub building, roofed with thatch and having a central smoke hole. It is 46 feet long and 14 feet deep; the ridge is about 16 feet above the ground. The southern-most bay of the building is a byre, divided from the rest of the house by a wattle and daub wall; it has its own wide, flimsy door in the west wall (more of a gate, actually). The middle two bays are the hall, with a hearth in the center of the dirt floor; at the north end, stairs give access to a loft for the priest's room; below is the buttery and pantry. Two wooden doors with stone doorsteps, opposite each other at the front and back of the building, open into the hall just before the wattle wall of the buttery and pantry. The hall has two shuttered windows on each outside wall; the gable end of the loft also has a shuttered window. Ivy has grown profusely on the northern gable end of the building. Along much of the east wall, firewood is piled up to the eaves each fall, to be burned during the winter.

The byre has three stalls for the priest's livestock; hay and other fodder is stored on the roof beams. The floor is a typical mess of dung, hay, and dirt, with extra mud added in rainy weather. No field mice scamper in the hay here, though.

The hall contains a trestle table, half a dozen stools, two bench chests, and a wooden airchair with a seat cushion. A thin layer of reeds is scattered on the floor. Over the hearth is an iron tripod and kettle, with a ladle hanging from the apex of the tripod. A ceramic firestopper leans in the corner (or is placed over the hearth performing its function). An oil lamp hanging from the roof beams, and a bookstand near the chair, attest to the potential literary activities of the priest. The usual odds and ends of cheeses, broken buckets, and lumber has been stored on the low roof beams overhead. An open stair leads up to the loft, which has a rickety railing along its open edge. Below the loft, a wattle wall with a narrow opening leads to the buttery and pantry. 

Within the pantry are stored foodstuffs in baskets, barrels and bags. The buttery holds beverages:  a small barrel of freshly-brewed ale (the only drinkable kind), a couple of jars of milk, and some eggs in nets hanging from the ceiling. The kitchenware is also kept here when not in use.

Upstairs in the loft, the sloping underside of the thatch leaves little space for humans to stand upright. A bed frame, whose ropes support a rough mattress stuffed with straw, is pushed almost to the east side of the room, with a large chest at the foot of the bed. Under the window in the gable end of the room is a small table and stool; a candle stub, wax stains, ink stains, and bits of paper decorate the tabletop. A small chest, a stool, and a chamber pot sit under the thatch on the west side of the room. The large chest, at the foot of the bed, contains clothing and personal effects of the priest; the other, smaller chest holds holy texts, paper and writing supplies, letters, candles, and other small and valuable items.