Nuns' Manor

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 12/01/2021 to correct the name and to reformat the text to current standards

TL 39 NE 7/325

SHEPRETH FROG END (North east side) Nuns' Manor (No. 65)

(Formerly listed as Nunn's Manor (No. 65))

II House. Mid C16 extended late C17. Timber-framed, plaster rendered. Tiled roofs with C19 ridge stack and end stack. Double ended hall house. The original principal elevation was on the south side. Two storeys with the first floor of the east crosswing jettied on the south side. The jetty on the north side of this crosswing is modern. The present windows and doorways are all modern. The lobby entry doorway is a later insertion. There probably was an original through passage in the east cross-wing. Internal evidence exists for this. The west crosswing was extended on south side in late C17 or early C18. Red brick. English bond rendered and tiled roof. Probably a single room extension to the parlour end of the house.

Inside: two bay hall with narrower chimney bay. Intersecting ceiling beams, stop chamfered. The hearth was rebuilt in C19 and the material reused in C19 when the house was converted to three cottages. Clunch and red brick with some scratchings of C17. At ground floor on the north side all the ceiling beams are extended by approximately two feet, though this does not occur in the tie beams at first floor. The display truss has an arch braced tie beam. The timbers of the clasped side purlin roof are substantial and uniform. The roof over the fire bay has been rebuilt. The east crosswing has evidence of a screen at ground floor, and in the original north wall, now internal, a doorway which would have led to the cross-passage. In the same wall there are two sites for the diamond mullions of an original window. Two bays. The wall framing has close studwork and curved downward bracing, internal. The roof is also of clasped side purlin type with paired wind bracing. The scantling of the roof and wall timbers is uniform throughout the house. There is some evidence for a window in the east wall of this crosswing. The west crosswing which is towards the road is also of two bays. It may have been jettied but this is now concealed by the late C17 brick extension. There is a three-light window, now internal, in the south wall at ground floor with bolection moulded mullions. At first floor there is similar close studding in the partition wall between the chamber and the hall. The roof over this crosswing incorporates reused material. The C17 extension to the south is of one room only with an outshut on the west. The roof is of similar type but with typical lighter timber. John Layer, the antiquarian is reputed to have lived at this house.

Dr. W.M. Palmer: Chatteris Manor & John Layer (Cambs. & Hunts Arch. Society 1922) Cambs. Colln. c.44.3 R.C.H.M.: Record Card (1949) V.C.H. Cambs. Vol. 5 p.252

Listing NGR: TL3936946990