Lannock Manor

Lannock Manor is a manor house with a complex history, evolving through the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The north range dates to the early 17th century, likely constructed for William Hale, who purchased the manor in 1621. A further south range was added in the early 18th century, and the central range was remodelled in the early to mid-19th century to create a new western entrance, still for the Hale family. Alterations and extensions occurred in 1911 for the Pryor family, who had owned the manor since 1896, with a southeast wing added in 1924. A former north wing, constructed in 1910, was largely demolished in 1962.

The building is composed of three parallel ranges with separate, steeply pitched red tile roofs, some hipped. The north range is timber-framed and brick-cased in mellow red brick. The southwest wing and the eastern part of the central range exhibit distinctive features. It is a large, two-story structure with a cellar, situated some distance from the road along a drive, accessed from the east. The main rooms face west and south.

The south range, dating from the early 18th century, presents a symmetrical five-window facade, as depicted in an 1804 drawing. It features a plinth, plat band, and a moulded brick eaves cornice supporting a steep, hipped roof with chequered red and buff tiles. The windows, originally altered to recessed sash windows with 6/6 panes under flat gauged arches on the ground floor, are now standardized. A half-glazed, flush-beaded panelled door is topped with a moulded flat hood on elaborate shaped brackets. The right-hand bay is obscured by the 1924 southeast wing, which itself has three windows facing west and a large projecting rear chimney. The east facade has three hipped gables and a canted bay with sash windows, a projecting porch with a hooded entrance, and a sash window to the left of the porch. A plat band runs along the end of the north range, and lower gable projections extend from the north side.

Internally, the north range reveals a 17th-century doorway with chamfered jambs and stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops. A large ovolo-moulded fireplace is present, featuring Delft tiles. Elaborately moulded panelling with a fluted frieze, originally from Letchworth Hall and installed in the 1920s, adorns the interior. A cut-string staircase in the middle range is characterised by a swept handrail and two turned balusters per step.

The manor was granted to the Knights Templars by Gilbert de Clare before 1148, and subsequently passed to the Hospitallers in 1309, remaining in their possession until the Dissolution around 1540. A chapel, depicted on the 1804 drawing with four lancet windows, corner buttresses, and a pitched roof, was located a short distance to the southwest of the house and used as a barn; it was demolished before 1875.