04 - Old Curate House, Leake Road

Built in 1863 for his Curate by the Rev. John Vaughan, the house opposite the Old Rectory at the corner of Monks Lane, cost £503-7s-11d to construct and was a much larger property than it is today. It had stables with staff living quarters above and its own brew house at the rear. The bricks were made locally but the roof tiles came from quarries at Bangor in north Wales. There was a well in the front garden and the premises were surrounded by a very elaborate stone wall. Note the crosses built into the brickwork on the house front. Good plans exist of the building which includes an attached conservatory.

Unfortunately the first Curate, the Rev. Henry Maturin Finny died of typhoid on 21st February 1865 as a result of visiting sick children in the village. He left a 5-month-old son named William Evelyn St Lawrence Finny, who later in life became Lord Mayor of Kingston upon Thames in Surrey. Subsequently he had a stained glass window put in the west wall of Gotham Church on 1st September 1932, which was a replica of one previously located in the Curate’s House.

Local folklore suggests a tunnel between this house and the Church but has never been verified. Some past occupiers have claimed the presence of an apparition in the house either in the form of a young girl or a monk.

Curate’s House was sold on 19th December, 1887, after attempts to use it as private school failed. It is now used as a private residence and has sometimes been named as The Cottage.