Farmhouse At Manor Farm

The farmhouse at Manor Farm is a house dating back to the 16th century, with a rebuild of the main hall in the 17th century. A lean-to kitchen was added in the early 19th century to the southeast, and a further lean-to was constructed around 1917 at the rear. The timber frame is roughcast, with the south flank of the ground floor renewed in yellow stock brick and a brick-and-flint kitchen added in the early 19th century. The front and north end are faced in red brick, while the rear leans-to are also brick. The steep roof is covered in old red tiles, which extend as a catslide over the rear brick lean-to.

The house is L-shaped, facing west, and arranged with a hall and crosswing. A staircase now rises inside the rear of the two-bay crosswing. The hall has a single large bay with a narrow chimney bay at the north end, where the chamfered axial beam lacks stops against the chimney, potentially indicating a former smoke-hood. The large fireplace is offset to the front, possibly to accommodate an earlier staircase beside the stack. The fireplace and flue for the chamber above the hall is a later 18th-century addition. The front door opens into the hall, next to the wing, which has a lower floor level.

The crosswing has two bays with two rooms on the first floor, divided by an original partition. Axial beams and a cased crossbeam on the ground floor suggest two original rooms – likely a parlour to the front (west) and a dairy behind. The rear half now has an early 19th-century fireplace and a projecting south side chimney. The front has two windows and a gable on the right, with a door in the middle. There are 2-light small casement windows. Canted hipped bay windows flank a gabled open timber porch to the 4-panel flush beaded door. White-painted simple iron railings sit on a dwarf wall along the front. Exposed framing is visible inside.

The south wing has curved tension braces in the walls and partition, jowled posts, edge-halved bladed scarf joints with bridled butts, a blocked 2-light window in the south wall, and a wider window position in the front wall, both with recesses for sliding shutters. The wing also has a side purlin roof with wind bracing. The upper room in the hall range has jowled posts and curved braces to the tie-beam in front of the chimney, a side-purlin roof, and a blocked 4-light window in the rear wall, said to have original leaded glazing, although there’s no sign of shutter fittings. Original plank doors with iron fittings are present, along with steps up from the wing to the room over the hall.