Prest Vale Architects Extends Grade II-Listed Cotswolds Rectory with Sundial-Topped Stone Volume

Near Blenheim Estate in Oxfordshire, London studio Prest Vale Architects has completed an extension to a Grade II-listed rectory in the Cotswolds, carrying the historic gabled roofline forward into a pale stone volume crowned by a sundial. The original house dates from the 17th century, and a stone barn from the mid-18th century stands beside it. Prest Vale Architects was commissioned to unify and enlarge the ensemble: the main home was extended, the barn converted into a guest annexe, and a banked garden flattened because it had blocked daylight and views. Ground-floor and first-floor plans accompany the project photography. The scheme pairs new pale stonework with the listed fabric rather than contrasting it, extending the existing profile rather than interrupting it. The sundial gives the addition a distinctive termination at roof level. The project adds to a growing body of work in which contemporary British practices adapt protected rural buildings in the Cotswolds and Oxfordshire, where listed status and proximity to the Blenheim Estate constrain intervention. The rectory's 17th-century origins and the barn's mid-18th-century date place both structures within the historic estate landscape surrounding Blenheim. Prest Vale Architects is based in London.