Manley Knoll

Manley Knoll is a small country house dating from 1912-1914, originally designed for Llewellyn Jones. Construction was interrupted by the First World War and completed in 1922, with subsequent internal remodelling by James Henry Sellers, an architect from Manchester, for the Demetriades family.

The house is built of buff-brown brick with orange brick dressings, timber framing, and roughcast, featuring prominent brick ridge and gable chimneys and a plain clay tile roof. It is an example of Eclectic Vernacular Revival style, demonstrating a varied pattern of timber framing.

The building has an irregular linear plan. The principal rooms face the garden, with a corridor linking them to the entrance and a stair hall at the rear.

The asymmetrical entrance front is two storeys high, with a three-sided entrance porch featuring a stone canopy and a canted upper storey. To the left is a timber-framed projection, and to the right a three-sided staircase bay, along with a roughcast projecting service bay with gablets and windows with two and three lights. The garden front displays four prominent timber-framed gables – a coupled pair to the left, and a large and small gable to the right, separated by a central recessed loggia supporting a balcony. The gables are detailed with varied framing patterns, some including cusped bargeboards and jettying. A single-story brick billiard room was added in the 1920s to the far left.

The interior features a hall and stair hall divided by a screen of three segmental arches, with an oak dado, doors, and doorcases. The dining room has oak panelling, built-in cupboards and a writing desk, and an inlaid marble fireplace. The library features oak panelling, doors, and built-in bookcases. The drawing room showcases exposed timber framing and a large inglenook fireplace with a stone surround. A closed-string staircase has barleysugar balusters and newel posts with finials. Some bedrooms have fireplaces with inset Delft tilework. The bathroom, located in the south-east corner, includes exposed timber framing, oak panelling, and built-in cupboards. The majority of the interior is attributed to the work of James Henry Sellers.

Manley Knoll is a small early 20th-century house in a Vernacular Revival style, notable for its little-altered, high-quality interiors largely designed by James Henry Sellers.