Old Ramerick Manor

Old Ramerick Manor, now a farmhouse, began as a late medieval open hall house, with substantial additions made over the centuries. A crosswing was added in the 16th century, and by 1625 it functioned as a farmhouse. The hall was floored in stages during the 17th century, and a northeast wing, originally a granary with a first-floor structure supported by timber, was built in the late 17th century. A western front bay and a rear staircase wing, along with a regularly bricked front to the house, were added in the early 18th century. The northwest service wing, dated 'RE/1829' above the entrance, was constructed later. The house was restored in 1953-4.

The building is likely timber-framed, suggested by a historical record of wall breakage during a seizure in 1530. The northeast wing is of clunch masonry with red brick dressings, while the first-floor granary has an independent timber supporting structure. The main front is dark red brick with blue and lighter red brick dressings, the northwest wing is red brick, and the rear staircase wing is roughcast. The roofs are steep, covered in old red tiles with zig-zag patterning to the front, and extend as a catslide over the rear outshut and are hipped on the northwest wing.

The house stands approximately 400 metres to the east of the main road, facing south on a site still partially moated. The symmetrical south front has a first-floor window arrangement of 2:3:2. A six-panel moulded door is set within a Doric pilastered surround with a flat entablature. The ground-floor windows correspond with those above, but the left-hand pair have been replaced around 1900 by a brick bay with three sash windows and a parapet. A projecting band runs along the eaves below the parapet, and the flush-box sash windows have flat gauged arches and 6/6 panes. A large chimney with a triangular pilaster strip is situated to the right of the door. A similar appearance is found at the east end. The two-storey northeast wing has gable parapets with corbelled brick kneelers and a roughcast gable triangle. A chimney was inserted in the early 19th century to serve a farm office in the base of the wing. The two-storey northwest service wing faces west with two windows to each floor, and features an inscription in a blind recess over the central porch.

A large internal chimney separates the kitchen on the south side from the dairy on the north, connecting with a lower cellar in the rear outshut behind the west room of the main range. A gabled stair wing projects at the rear, covering a catslide in the angle with the east wing. Large rear-wall chimneys flank the hall, each with a gabled dormer.

The interior includes a fine cut-string staircase with two barley-sugar balusters per tread, carved tread ends, a swept handrail on barley-sugar newels, and a curved handrail at the foot beside the hall fireplace. A Jacobean oak chimneypiece features swagged Ionic pilasters on pedestals, Composite caryatides supporting an overmantle with strapwork ornament and a perspective design in a square central feature that includes a niche within a dentilled pedimented frame. Twin keyblocked segmental openings are present on the east wall of the hall. Within the east wing are an axial beam, a late 16th-century fireplace with three round-headed niches above the lintel, and a clasped-purlin roof structure. The manor and house have been continuously owned by St. John's College, Cambridge, since 1520/1.