Holywell Manor House

Holywell Manor House, formerly known as Strother Farm, is a house dated 1654, built for Sir Ralph Bates. It features large rubble construction with cut dressings, some of which were renewed around 1970, and a renewed pantile roof with 20th-century brick stacks. The south elevation is two storeys high and has four bays.

The left-of-centre door is renewed and set in a moulded surround with a flattened four-centred head, featuring an inscribed lintel and hoodmould. There are two doorways with similar but unmoulded arches, one of which is a 20th-century insertion, located between the left bays. The ground-floor windows, originally of two lights, are in chamfered surrounds with hoodmoulds; the right window has been enlarged into a doorway, while the far right has an inserted 20th-century window. The upper windows have similar surrounds and are set in flat-topped half dormers, with smaller windows featuring timber lintels between the left bays and at the far right. The gables are coped with moulded kneelers, and there are end and two ridge stacks. The left return shows a large projecting stack, a former two-light window with a hoodmould on the right, and a smaller chamfered window above. The rear has a central gabled stair wing flanked by gabled single-storey wings, with the left wing being a 19th-century addition. The fenestration is scattered, including a flat-topped half dormer near the right end.

Inside, there is a large fireplace at the west end with a segmental chamfered arch. The parlour fireplace has a moulded four-centred arch, while a simpler fireplace is found in a bedroom, and another with a corbelled-out lintel is located on the stairs.

It remains uncertain whether the current building is the original house built by Bates or a service or lodging range. The Northumberland County History suggests that the main house may have stood to the east of the former courtyard, which is now a lawn.

The motto MEDIOCRIA FIRMA, meaning 'The Middle Course is Safe', is associated with several families, including the Bacon Baronets and the Lords Grimston of Westbury.