St Johns Manor House

St. John's Manor House is a farmhouse dating from around 1570, with significant alterations made mainly in the mid-19th century. It is believed to have been built for Dame Anne, the wife of Sir Thomas Gresham, who was the Lord of the Battisford and St. John's Manors and the founder of the Royal Exchange. The house has a cross-passage entrance plan and consists of three conventional cells, with a kitchen to the north and a small earlier rear service wing.

The building is two storeys high with attics and is primarily timber-framed, though it is mostly encased in mid-19th century gault brick, with plasterwork at the rear and side. The roof is covered with plain tiles and features two axial chimneys made of red brick; the right chimney has a 17th-century sawtooth shaft. Originally, there was a terracotta panel at the base of this chimney that displayed the Arms of Sir Richard Russell, who was the Master of the Preceptory of the Knights Hospitallers around 1530.

The mid-19th century windows have flat arches made of gauged brick and are fitted with large-pane sashes. The entrance door, which is four-panelled and from the 19th century, has an oblong fanlight and is located at the cross-entry position. Inside, the hall features exposed moulded beams and joists from around 1570, along with a 17th-century lintelled open fireplace. The close-studding is well-preserved, and the roof structure includes wind-braced butt purlins with many rafters that were reused from a large open hall dating to the late 13th or early 14th century. These rafters are massive and well-cut, with mortices for collars and one pair trenched for the ends of passing-braces.

In the cellar, there are other terracotta panels that were likely reset from a brickwork feature dating to around 1530. The house is built on the moated site of the Preceptory of the Knights Hospitallers, which was founded around 1154 and dissolved in 1540. Chancery Proceedings from the time of Elizabeth I refer to payments for "repairs" to this house, which appears to have been nearly rebuilt, except for the small early 16th-century wing mentioned earlier, for Dame Anne Gresham.