Wormleighton Manor House

Wormleighton Manor House

A fragment of a large manor house, now functioning as a farmhouse, dating from around 1512 with subsequent additions and alterations from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The house was built for John Spencer. It is constructed of 16th and 18th/19th century English bond brick and regular coursed ashlar and rubble ironstone, with tile roofs featuring stone coped gable parapets and stone and brick ridge, end, internal and lateral stacks. The original plan is indeterminate.

The exterior presents as a two-storey structure. The left range dates to around 1512 and consists of brick with two high storeys and a four-window span. Some flared brick diaper work is visible. Central and right end buttresses of two offsets provide support. The entrance in the third bay has a 19th century ribbed door with an applied arch and two rows of three panels, with an overlight and flanking panels inserted into the bottom half of a three-light window. The windows are cavetto-moulded Tudor-arched-light stone mullioned windows with transoms and hood moulds, mostly of four lights, with most lights now blocked. On the first floor a 19th century plank loading door with an associated hoist bracket has been inserted into the bottom part of the second window. The fourth bay contains a blocked former two-light window with a 19th century three-light casement and wood lintel inserted within a later doorway. To the right a blocked Tudor arch doorway retains the remains of a hood mould. The right end features a three-light 19th century casement with another above, partly within a blocked opening. The first floor has a four-light window, and the right corner shows some stone. End stacks are present. A 18th/early 19th century twin gable range extends to the right with three-light casements, leaded on the ground floor beneath cambered brick arches, and 19th century casements with glazing bars throughout. A 19th/20th century sash door with glazing bars has been inserted into the remains of a three-light mullioned window in the angle. A very large external stack to the right features multiple offsets. A bricked-up fire window appears on the left, with an 18th/19th century brick shaft above.

The left return side is a two-window range. The left section projects slightly with stone coping dying back into the wall above the first floor. This section retains 16th century Tudor-arch mullioned windows with sunk spandrels. The right section contains a large single-storey four-light canted bay window with a king mullion and splay sills beneath a tile roof. Two-light windows appear to the left and above. Two small gables die into the parapet between them. The left gable features a blind Tudor arch with a carved figure and kneelers with finials. The brickwork is irregular.

The right return side has a two-light mullioned first floor window. The garden front extends as a six-window range, with the right range taller than the left. The left end is of regular coursed stone, the centre of rubble, and the right end of early 16th century brick. A large stone and brick diagonal buttress appears on the right. A ribbed door with an applied Tudor arch and two rows of three panels, with flanking panels and a wood lintel, sits between the first and second bays. A similar door between the fourth and fifth bays has an overlight. A chamfered stone Tudor arch doorway contains a comparable door. A large mid/late 19th century stone two-light canted bay on the left features large full-length Tudor-arched lights with a transom and crenellated parapet. Fenestration is irregular, comprising two and three-light 19th century wood mullioned and transomed windows with glazing bars. The first floor displays three carved stone shields, one bearing the Spencer arms. A 19th/20th century ridge stack appears on the left. The right range has a large internal stack of thin bricks with four square 19th century brick shafts.

The interior contains a moulded Tudor arch door and some moulded beams.

Historical Note: Much of the house is said to have been destroyed during the English Civil War.