Old Manor House

The Old Manor House is a former rectory, now a house, dating to 1847 and designed by Charles Kirk of Sleaford. It is constructed of dressed rubble with ashlar dressings, featuring stone coped gables with fleur de lys finials and shaped kneelers, and a green slate roof with one shaped stone stack and one replaced brick stack on a stone base. The house is two storeys with a garret and one storey with an attic. The six-bay facade has four bays to the left, which are two-storey and project under gables. A centrally positioned door is sheltered by a stone gabled porch, topped with a fleur de lys finial, and incorporates a doorway with a four-centred arched head, hood mould, and foliated stops. Above the doorway is a shield displaying three stars and a scroll bearing a Greek inscription. To the left is a projecting one-bay wing with a three-light stone mullion window with a high transom; above is a two-light window and a single light in the gable. All contemporary windows have shaped heads, stone cills, and flat ashlar surrounds with iron casements. To the right, a tall stair window contains two lights and two transomes, with a decorated top light. A projecting one-bay octagonal tower features a battlemented parapet, foliated corbels, and two single lights to the front and one to each angled side. Further right, a two-light window is accompanied by a projecting gabled two-light dormer with corbel brackets and a fleur de lys finial. A C20 bow window has been inserted into the end projecting bay, replacing the original opening, with a C19 two-light casement above. The original architectural composition of three and two-light windows is repeated on the side and rear elevations. The interior includes a large entrance hall with an impressive staircase. A room to the left of the porch contains a stone fireplace in a Tudor style, decorated with roses, and an inscribed brass plaque in Gothic script reading: “FH 1847, to my successor: If thou chance to find a house to thy mind, and built without they cost, Be good to the poor as God gives thee store and then my labours not lost.”