The Old Manor And Attached Garden Wall

The Old Manor is a medieval hall house with a later country house attached, situated in the parish of Norbury and Roston. Initially built in the early 14th century and extended through the 15th, 17th, and 19th centuries, it was restored between 1964 and 1969. The hall house was originally built by the Fitzherbert family, who occupied it until the Elizabethan period, when religious persecution severely impacted their fortunes. The later 17th-century house is attributed to the Maskery family, who were tenants at the time, and the building had served as a farmhouse for a considerable period prior to its restoration.

The building is constructed primarily of sandstone ashlar and red brick, with brick and stone dressings. The roofs are tiled, with the 17th-century house having a hipped roof and brick ridge stacks, while the medieval hall features moulded stone coped gables and a large, stepped, external stone side wall stack on the east wall. The layout is an L-shape: the eight-bay 17th-century house stands to the south, connected at a right angle to the east by a 17th-century bay, and attached to the medieval hall. The 17th-century house has attics, and the hall has a cellar.

The main facade of the hall house, facing west, is built mainly of ashlar and includes a moulded first-floor string course. The ground floor features a central, early 14th-century moulded four-centred arched doorcase with carved spandrels, a flat returned hoodmould, and a plaque within a moulded surround. To either side are 15th-century ashlar buttresses. To the north of the doorway is a semi-circular headed doorcase with lozenge designs on the raised imposts and keystone, covered by a plain hood and raised stone blocks bearing the date '158?'. A 4-light recessed timber mullion window (with 20th-century mullions) is situated to the south, beneath which are two small square stone windows leading to the cellar. Further to the south is another buttress. Above, there are two early 14th-century 2-light pointed windows with trefoil-headed lights, pierced spandrels, and hoodmoulds with carved head labels. A 17th-century brick bay is attached to the south, featuring a first-floor band and segment-headed single-light windows flanking a segment-headed doorway with a 4-light mullion window above. Attached to the north of the hall, running west, is a medieval stone rubble wall with a 20th-century dovecote at the west end and a medieval door at the centre.

The 17th-century house’s south facade has a flush stone doorcase with a moulded fillet, C20 panelled doors, and four tall timber cross windows under segment heads. Three similar windows are located to the east of the doorcase, with eight similar windows on the first floor. All windows have C20 leaded lights incorporating 15th-century stained glass roundels and coats of arms in the upper lights. Hipped dormers with casements are visible in the roof.

Inside the hall house, reused 15th-century beams remain in the roof. A flush-chamfered fireplace is present in the upper hall, and a close-studded timber partition divides a lower room, which also has a 13th-century segment-headed door on its south side.