Surviving Wing At Manor Farm

Surviving Wing at Manor Farm, Monkland and Stretford

This timber-framed building was erected in the later 16th century as a parlour wing to an existing manor house, mainly of 15th-century date. The site itself dates back to the period following the Norman Conquest. The structure stands on a stone plinth and is jettied to both the north and west fronts. The lower body, dating from the late 18th or early 19th century, consists of random-bond brick on both north and south sides, while the upper body is covered with timber cladding. The roof is plain tiled. The building is abutted to east and west by farm buildings with corrugated metal roofing. The plan comprises two rooms to each floor, with an attic and basement.

Externally, the timber framing is largely masked by later brick walling at ground floor level, built under the jetties on the north and west sides, and by timber cladding. Inside the adjacent farm building on the west side, part of the bressumer of the first floor jetty can be seen, featuring a series of quadrant and stepped mouldings. Above this are the vertical timbers of the small-framed first floor walling.

The ground floor was originally divided into two rooms—a large, nearly square room to the south and a smaller room to the north—though the dividing wall has now been demolished. The walls are close-studded with a prominent middle-rail. Bays of close-studded walling survive along two-thirds of the western wall at its northern end and across two bays of the eastern wall. The south end of the east wall was previously the position of a large fireplace, documented in the Royal Commission for Historical Monuments survey of 1933, when it had a carved overmantle. Original corner posts at the eastern end remain in situ and are chamfered to their inner angle. Prominent projecting posts at the midway point to both side walls are also chamfered and help support a ceiling of beams running both axially and cross-axially, which in turn support joists—the majority running cross-axially, except at the northern end where two bays have joists running axially. Despite the double overhang, there is no dragon beam to the north-western corner, which would indicate a later 16th-century date.

Painted decoration survives to the ceiling beams, taking the form of leaf and flower ornament in stylised friezes, principally in black against a whitened background, though other pigments including red and possibly bistre appear to be present. Two different patterns form the ground floor friezes. The beams and timbers in the north room appear to have been whitened, whereas those in the south room have not. The painted decoration in the south room extends down the wall timbers. This contemporary painted decoration is a rarity of considerable interest.

At first floor level, the space was formerly divided along a centre line marked by the truss, creating two rooms of roughly equal size. The timber framing to the west side is almost complete, with panels of small framing featuring a generous middle rail and two window spaces. The uprights of the small framing coincide with every alternative upright of the close studding below. Jowled corner posts exist at all four corners. The north face is intact save for one upright. The eastern wall has lost much of its timber framing, and the south wall, which is clad on both sides, appears to have been rebuilt largely using modern timbers. The deeply chamfered ceiling beams have been covered with plaster, and a plaster ceiling has also been inserted, now partially collapsed. A small portion of 17th-century timber frieze, apparently left over from panelling documented in the Royal Commission report, survives.

The attic contains two ranks of trenched purlins with a diagonally-set ridge beam. The common rafters appear to be very largely original. The roof was not wind-braced originally but has had some bracing added, perhaps in the 18th century. Both gable ends are small-framed and appear to have had central windows. The window sill on the north side is heavily weathered; the soffit to the window head is hidden by later timber and the mullion mortices are not apparent. Wide floorboards, which may be original, exist in the attic but have been renewed on the lower two floors. The cellar is infilled.

The manor of Monkland, part of the Stretford Hundred, is listed in the Domesday Book as a possession of Norman lords. It became the site of a small Benedictine cell of the abbey at Conches, but this was suppressed along with other alien priories around 1414. The manor came into the possession of Sir Roland Lenthall until 1475, when it was granted to the dean and cannons of Windsor. They held it until 1831, when it was sold into private hands.

The full extent of the manor house buildings was recorded by the Royal Commission for Historical Monuments in 1933, with a plan drawn at that time showing both the wing and the manor house. The building was then described as unoccupied and in derelict condition. A fire in the 1950s destroyed much of the earlier part of the manor house, leaving only this parlour wing and some altered buildings at the east end of the site, which were noted as stables at the time of the Royal Commission report. A lower agricultural building was added to the west side, most probably in the early 20th century. The building is currently used for agricultural storage.