Marche Manor

SJ 31 SW WESTBURY C.P. MARCHE LANE (South-west side) 4/107 29.1.52 Marche Manor

GV II*

Farmhouse. Late C16 with additions of c. 1604 and of the late C17; restored for F.W. Wateridge c. 1898. Timber framed with plastered infill panels on coursed sandstone rubble and red brick plinth; plain tile roof. Hall range of 2 framed bays, projecting gabled cross-wing to left of 3 framed bays and later gabled wing at rear to right. 2 storeys and attic. Framing: closely-spaced studs with middle rail; cross-wing with long straight tension braces, first floor jettied on all sides with moulded bresummer, and jettied gable end with moulded bresummer, carved brackets, curved-sided lozenge panels, and late C19 finial dated 1604; right-hand end of hall range with first-floor parallel diagonal braces forming lozenge patterns, and gable end with jettied first floor. Large external brick end stack to left with 2 star-shaped shafts and pitched-roofed link to attic, and lateral brick stack at rear with 3 star-shaped shafts. 3-window front; late C19 wooden mullioned and transomed diamond-leaded casements; first-floor window to right and first-floor window in gable end with moulded cills, possibly the remains of former oriel windows; late C19 nail-studded boarded door between first and second windows from right with strap hinges and 3-part rectangular overlight. Lean-to additions at rear. Interior: hall with chamfered beams, carved scrolled brackets, moulded cornice, fluted post as pilaster to north with carved scrolled bracket; inglenook fireplace altered in the late C19 but incorporating C17 carved panels and other work; dining room with ogee-stopped chamfered beams, and open fireplace with store reveals and overmantel with some C17 work and painted rural scene (probably formerly part of a larger painting); drawing room with ogee-stopped chamfered beams, moulded cornice, and corner fireplace with reused C17 panelling and early C19 (?) surround; first floor with chamfered jowl posts, moulded cornice, screen with reused C17 panelling and balusters, and C17 panelled door with fluted frieze; staircase with turned balusters; roof with single purlins, and collar and tie-beam trusses with V-struts. The house was the Gough family home from the late C15 until the C18 and it was probably Thomas Gough (I) who added the early C17 cross wing. It became cottages in the C19 until it was bought by F.W. Wateridge in 1892. The house stands within a moated site . B.O.E., p. 196; V.C.H. Vol. VIII, pp. 304-5 and 315-6; F.E. Forrest FLS, Some old Shropshire houses and their owners (1924,),pp 7-16; C. Ryan, The evolution of the peasant house in Shropshire. Medieval - c.1850. The Parish of Westbury, Unpublished thesis (October 1979), Manchester University, pp. 119-20.

Listing NGR: SJ3343910461