Alveston Manor Hotel

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON

SP2054 BANBURY ROAD, Bridgetown 604-1/6/289 (North East side) 25/10/51 Alveston Manor Hotel

GV II

House, now hotel. c1500, enlarged c1600, C17, C18 with C19 restoration and C20 alterations. Timber-frame with brick infill, many panels with decorative brick and tile work, some stucco to rear; tile roofs with brick stacks. 2 storeys. Nucleus of 3 gabled bays, one to left projects, with flanking later wings (one c1600, the other late C17); outer wings C18, that to right end projects. Entrance to left of centre has mid to late C20 glazed flat-roofed porch; similar entrance to right end. Windows have late C20 casements with leaded glazing replacing sashes (recorded 1972); central 1st-floor Venetian window with leaded glazing. Two C16 axial stacks with square shafts with fillets and cornices, close studding with middle rails and one C17 stack. Rear has stucco 3-gable centre, with 2 gables to left, that to end with 2-storey hipped bay window, and 3 gables to right; centre has Venetian window and enriched barge-boards with scroll work, vine trail and fretwork, large C20 single-storey flat-roofed addition and corridor to right. INTERIOR: entrance hall has C17 panelling and chamfered beams; stair has square newels with finials and splat balusters; main hall has linenfold panelling, top panels with reticulated tracery (VCH records 9 panels of C16 linenfold); fireplace with stop-chamfered ovolo-moulded bressumer and C19 Delft tiles, overmantel has 10 panels in early Renaissance style with high relief heads in roundels, similar panels to 2 doors; paired doors to rear with linenfold panels; staircase to right has moulded square newels with finials and splat balusters. Room to right end has C17 panelling with top cornice and embroidered frieze and coffered ceiling, large stone fireplace with armorial bearing over; 2-fielded-panel door. Rear passage has exposed timber-framing; many late C19 panels recording the history of the house. HISTORICAL NOTE: the house is said to be on the site of an anchorite cell c960 AD; under the massive cedar tree to rear of house, the 1st performance of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is reputed to have taken place. (VCH (offprint): Styles P: The Borough of Stratford-upon-Avon and the Parish of Alveston: London: 1946-: 67; Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Warwickshire: Harmondsworth: 1966-: 416; SPAN: Stratford-upon-avon: The Alveston Manor: Wendover: 1981-1990: 3, 20-22).

Listing NGR: SP2076354730