Draycot Rectory

The 'Old Rectory' on the main road between Draycot Cerne and Sutton Benger was built between 1880 and 1881, after the tithe exchange of 1879. It replaced the earlier rectory which stood in Lower Draycot, between the Draycot Park lake and the main road. The original rectory was demolished, together with the rest of the Lower Draycot hamlet, to allow Lord Cowley (Henry Richard Charles Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley) to landscape his Park. Lord Cowley (1804-1884) had inherited the Draycot Estate after the death of his cousin, Lord Mornington, in 1863.

Draycot Church (St James's Church) closed in 1993; it is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The Rectory is now a private house.

Alongside the footpath, in the old metal railing, is the remains of a gateway. This was one of about a dozen gates around the boundary to Draycot Park, about half of which can still be found today. Opposite, in the hedgerow left of the Rectory, is an identical gate which used to be the entrance to the Rectory, before the new gates to the right were installed.