AboutUs

Our pretty 19th century rectory was designed in 1858 by Philip Webb whilst he was working for the well-know Victorian architect G E Street. Street was famous for his parsonages which had originally been introduced by William Butterfield (1814-1900) and in the 1840s was adopted by Street.

The Old Rectory is part of the Laverstoke Estate, originally owned by the Portal family. Henri Portal escaped from France around 1680 following persecution by having adopted the Hugenot faith. He started a paper making business at Bere Mill in Whitchurch, two miles away and later moved to Laverstoke Mill across the road from us. In 1724 he obtained the right to manufacture the paper for Bank of England notes. The successor company to Henri Portal is De la Rue and, in nearby Overton, they still make the majority of the world’s bank note paper.