The Manor House

MELBOURN HIGH STREET TL 3844 (South east side) 24/178 No. 81 (The Manor 22.11.67 House) (formerly listed as part of No. iii) GV II*

House. c.1710-20, with mid C18 parlour wing at the rear. Red and burnt brick on plinth, except for the rear wall which is timber framed. Parapetted roof, tiled with end stacks and moulded brick eaves cornice. Original early C18 house of single range plan with service and offices to the north end and principal rooms flanking a narrower hall and stairbay. Cellar, two principal storeys and attic. Three hipped dormers. Symmetrical five window range framed by pilasters with red brick quoins and moulded brick capitals and bases. Original ovolo moulded glazing bars to twelve pane hung sashes with arched top panes in open boxing and segmental arches. Four steps up to central doorway with door of eight raised and fielded panels and later flat hood on scroll brackets. Lead rainwater downpipe, C18-C19, to front wall and another probably mid C18 with initials W.H. to right hand gable end. Parlour wing added mid C18. Red brick, tiled. Two storeys and attic. Sham framing to part of rear wall. Inside: Paved hall with fine open-string staircase of four flights and two landings. Column on-vase balusters with swept and moulded rail, square newels, fluted, with curtail. The mid C18 parlour at the rear is lined with raised and fielded panelling in two heights and the room adjoining at the front has similar panelling. The overmantel has a modillion cornice, but the fireplace is c.1840 and of white marble. It has been suggested that the house was built for Richard Hitch on his marriage to Mary Hawkes in 1704 or that it was the bailiffs house built by the Hitch family following their purchase of the Argentines and Trayles Manors.

Nina Campkin : Melbourn Village History (mss. in Cambridgeshire Collection) V.C.H. Cambs. Vol. VIII R.C.H.M.: Record Card (1949)

Listing NGR: TL3818844645