This is really interesting. I must find out more about the Building Acts. Is there some good (single) volume?

If Ashe is around 1750, how much might it have cost to build? Apparently, around 1750 new rectories were built for £500-£600; sixty years later, the cost had gone up to £1,500-£2,000, not only because of inflation during the French wars but because clergy incomes and expectations had increased. I'm not sure whether these costs are only the "case" of the house, excluding fitting costs (plaster, ceilings, chimneys, plumbing, fitting out domestic offices), which apparently normally came to around 50% of building costs for country houses. Country house building costs in the 1770-1800 period have recently been estimated at five years' rent (of the associated estate) to build a house, one year's rent to alter a house; but this excludes houses built on smaller estates. Before the nineteenth century, building materials such as wheelbarrows, ladders and scaffolding were all made on site.

This information is from R. G. Wilson and A. L. Mackley, "How much did the English country house cost to build, 1660-1880?", Economic History Review, vol.52 no.3 (August 1999), pp.436-68. This would only be available from academic libraries, since it is subscription-only or inter-library loan. However, the authors note that their book, "Creating paradise: building the English country house, 1660-1880" will be published next year. No doubt it will contain the same information as the EHR article. But the article is still useful because it briefly summarises current debate, has a lot of interesting information quite concisely put, and has a good bibliography attached.