Alfriston Clergy House - +44 (0) 1323 870001

Alfriston Clergy House in Alfriston, Polegate, East Sussex, England, was the first property to be acquired by the National Trust. It was purchased in 1896 for £10. The house lies adjacent to the Church of St. Andrew.HistoryThe house is a 14th-century Wealden hall house. Although the name reflects the fact that the parish priest and his housekeeper used it, the house was originally built as a farmer's house. It is a very modest property — not at all like the grand rectories that many Church of England clergy occupied by the 19th century. It is a low-ceilinged, two-storey, timber-framed building with a thatched roof. Part of the house was rebuilt in the 17th century. It is commonly said that a detail on a cornice wood carving of an oak leaf, may have inspired the National Trust's emblem, but there is no evidence to prove that claim. It has a rare chalk and sour milk floor. Outside there is a small but well-planted cottage garden, which was designed by Graham Stuart Thomas.The house is open to the public.The 1895 decision by the National Trust about the approach to adopt to the repair and presentation of the Clergy House was critical in shaping its subsequent way of dealing with almost all its properties, which continues to this day. It was also influential in promoting more widely a much more conservative attitude to the restoration of historic buildings than had been common practice in the 19th century. This was a direct result of the close links between the newly formed National Trust and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB). The SPAB had been founded by William Morris 18 years earlier as a protest against excessive restoration which robbed buildings of their true value and interest. The early Founders of the Trust knew William Morris and were equally horrified by the damage that had been done, mostly to churches, in the name of restoration.

Tags: Historical Place