Ecclesiastical dwellings in need of salvation

SIR – The Church of England did indeed sell off many ecclesiastical dwellings at prices that now seem ridiculously cheap (report, September 17), but few remember the prevailing conditions at the time.

In the case of my rectory, the incumbent begged the church commissioners for a small, comfortable new home in which he and his family could afford to live.

The rectory needed at least eight staff. Should that seem an excessive claim, bear in mind that the only heating was provided by 14 open fireplaces. A skillet in the upstairs bathroom heated the minister’s shaving water. The water for the bathroom had to be carried up from the kitchen range.

After the church commissioners had finally built a new rectory on the adjoining field, the original one failed to sell at auction for its reserve of £5,000, so my father secured it for £4,000. Sadly he never had the money to rectify the dry rot, the rising damp, the time-served wiring or the lead plumbing.

However, we liked the house and location so, when he suffered a stroke, we built a bungalow for him and my mother and paid £22,000 for the house. We spent £30,000 to rectify the problems.

So, yes, it is probably now worth over a million – but would the Church of England have spent this money in 1970 to put the rectory in order? And, if it had, what would it have sold for? Bill Woodhouse

Mappowder, Dorset