Mansergh

Mansergh is a town house constructed in the mid 18th century and refurbished in the mid to later 19th century, with a 20th-century extension to the rear. It is situated on the south-west corner of Church Street, overlooking the Parade, an historic open space that served as a focus for military and public gatherings in Berwick.

The building is constructed of sandstone with an ashlar plinth, quoins and dressings, stuccoed and rendered, with brick chimneys and Welsh slate roofs. It has an L-shaped plan incorporating a kitchen range to the rear. The building was originally two cells separated by an alley; this alley was later blocked at each end and incorporated within the body of the house.

The exterior comprises three storeys and three bays under a hipped roof with rear and right eaves chimneystack and decorative finials. A central entrance features a classical door case, flanked by paired windows to the right and a single window to the left. The first and second floors each have three similar windows. Ground and first-floor windows have pediment-shaped lintels with incised quatrefoils and all contain two-pane replacement sash windows. The left return to the Parade comprises a single bay with an oriel window to the first floor. A two-storey 19th-century service extension extends to the rear.

Internally, the ground floor contains an entrance vestibule with carved oak double doors opening to a hall, from which a dining room is accessed on the left. The dining room features a decorative cornice and ceiling rose, a cupboard in a recess, and a carved wooden fireplace. A further ground-floor reception room is plain. A 19th-century wooden staircase with a plaster stair arch provides access to the first floor. The first-floor drawing room is decorated in a similar style to the ground floor. Bedrooms on the first and third floors are plain, some retaining original cupboards and fireplaces. The roof structure is formed of sawn timbers.

The house, formerly known as Parade View, is documented in an indenture dated 1771 recording its sale. Armstrong's map of Berwick from 1769 depicts buildings on the site, though the present buildings on either side abut the quoins of this house, suggesting it was earlier in date. The 1852 Board of Health Plan shows the house with a rectangular footprint, with the ground floor originally consisting of two separate cells placed either side of an alley giving access to the rear yard. By the time of the 1898 Ordnance Survey map, the alley had been blocked and incorporated into the house; its former location is marked by the ground-floor window immediately to the right of the main entrance. The building had also been extended to the rear at its south end. External and internal evidence indicates that the house underwent external and internal refurbishment and remodelling in the mid to later 19th century.