Manor Cottage And Manor Farm (Including Associated Farm Buildings)

Manor Cottage and Manor Farm with Associated Farm Buildings, South Newbald Road

This comprises a house (Manor Cottage), farm cottage (Manor Farm), and associated farm buildings, all dating from the late 18th century with later alterations.

Materials and Construction

The buildings are constructed mainly from coursed rubble stone under pantile roofs. The house is fronted in brick, while the cottage is pebble-dashed with a brick-built outshut topped with a slate roof. The farm buildings are also predominantly stone but feature brick dressings. Later buildings and alterations are generally in brick.

The House and Cottage

The house follows a single-depth plan with a central entrance and an open well staircase with a single half landing. A two-storey rear projecting wing is a modern extension of no special interest. The cottage was originally accessed from both the house and the rear, but now enters via a two-storey outshut that appears to be a 19th-century extension, with a single-storey extension added in the late 20th century.

The house and cottage form an east-facing range with the cottage to the north. On the east elevation, the three-bay house with its two-bay cottage to the right are both of two storeys. The house is nearly symmetrical, with the south bay slightly wider and the central entrance slightly offset to the north. The cottage's northern bay is blind. Windows throughout are horned 1-over-1 sashes except the ground-floor cottage window, which is 2-over-2. Ground-floor windows have channelled wedge lintels of painted stucco. The entrance to the house features a modern 6-panel door with a clear glazed semicircular fanlight above, set within an original doorcase with reeded pilasters supporting an open pediment. A dentilled brick eaves course runs beneath the roofline. The house has brick end stacks, with that to the right enlarged to include the single ridge stack of the cottage. Gables are raised but lack copings or kneelers.

The west elevation of the house is mostly covered by the modern extension, which employs irregular bricks and 1-over-1 sashes with a raised gable featuring tumbling-in brickwork and a pantile roof. However, stretcher bonding and soldier course lintels reveal its modern date. The three original windows retain 1-over-1 sashes; the southernmost, to the right of the extension, has a channelled wedge lintel. The cottage's rear outshut overlaps part of the original house's rear. Most of its windows are modern replacements in altered openings, though one ground-floor window retains a segmental arch formed from brick headers and a 12-pane Yorkshire sash. Both gable ends are covered in modern render.

Interior Features

The house retains its original open string staircase with stick balusters and decorative brackets, along with 6-panel doors. The roof structure is traditionally jointed and pegged, featuring collared trusses supporting butt-purlins. The cottage contains exposed beams that are chamfered with pyramid stops.

The Farm Buildings

The farm buildings are arranged around a rectangular yard extending westward from the north side of the cottage. The principal agricultural buildings form a continuous range along the north side of the yard, which is subdivided into two by a cross wall. Most of these buildings are also accessible from the north. A large detached modern building to the north is not included in the listing.

The multi-function barn forms the western end of the principal range. This two-storey building comprises a threshing barn at the western end, stabling to the east, and central storage with granaries above. The central bay on the south side is inset, but the roof is continuous, providing shelter to the step and ladder access to the upper floor. The west end of the roof is hipped, the east gabled with verge formed by tumbling-in brickwork. The roof structure is pegged with butt-purlins.

The cart shed and stabling forms the centre of the east-west range. This two-storey building features three brick-arched cart openings on both north and south sides, though most have been infilled. Stabling with hay lofts above occupies either end. The stabling and hay loft openings remain unaltered at the east end on the north side and the west end on the south side. The remainder of the east-west range comprises single-storey buildings, some of which are brick rebuilds.

Two-bay stone-built open-fronted sheds extend northward from the threshing barn, probably originally an implement shed with loft storage accessed from the gable end. This has a replacement corrugated roof. To the south of the threshing barn, forming the western side of the yard, lies a range of open-fronted livestock shelter sheds with engineering brick piers and some modern blockwork walling, but retaining a mainly stone-built rear wall. At the time of survey, its pantile roof had been removed.

A single-storey stone-built range with brick dressings and a modern recovered roof forms the south side of the yard. This range included the farm washhouse.

Historical Context

From its architectural detailing, Manor Cottage and Farm date from the late 18th century, likely prompted by the enclosure of the agricultural land of North and South Newbald, with an enclosure map dated 1778. The farm complex is marked on the 1855 Ordnance Survey 1:10560 map and labelled as Manor House, with a layout little different from that surviving today. Bulmer's Directory of 1892 notes that it was occupied by farmer Samuel Sharp but implies ownership by Viscount Galway. In the early 20th century, the former farm cottage served as the village police house before becoming the farm house after the original principal house was separated and renamed Manor Cottage.