Manor House

Manor House

Large house of timber frame construction, plastered with some colourwashed 19th-century white brick casing and slate roofs. The building dates from the late 15th century, extended around 1500, probably for the Garland family. A stack and floor were inserted in the 16th century, followed by a 17th-century extension, probably for the Smeare family. The roof was renewed and the building was altered in 1813, as marked by a datestone on the stack.

The original plan comprised four bays: a two-bay open hall with a storeyed lower bay and smoke bay at the upper end. An early two-bay storeyed parlour addition followed, with a later two-bay kitchen and dairy range added to form an L-shaped plan. The building is now entirely two storeys.

The main range has its entrance in the original cross passage position, marked by a six-fielded panelled door with a reeded and lugged architrave. The hall to the right contains 3 and 4-light 20th-century casements. The parlour addition to the right is set back slightly at ground floor, with a jettied upper storey that projects slightly. Four exposed moulded shafts support the jetty, three with roll and bell-moulded caps to curved brackets supporting broad joists; one has a later shaped bracket. At the original front corner post stands embattled and Tudor flower brattishing with a large curved bracket to a dragon beam. The original jettied gable end was rebuilt in brick with recessed casements. An axial ridge stack was inserted in the smoke bay with a later white brick cap bearing a datestone. To the rear are a first-floor three-light ovolo-mullioned window to the stairs in the stack bay, and lean-to additions from the parlour and service bay. The kitchen and dairy range, attached at the front angle of the service bay, has a boarded door in a 20th-century open porch, a second dairy door at the far left, scattered casements, and a red brick right gable end with an internal kitchen stack and pantiled lean-to oven outshuts. A 19th-century weatherboarded and pantiled outbuilding is attached to the left.

Internally, the service end has a chamfered doorway with a four-centred arched head, an original pantry and buttery partition, and three-light diamond-mullioned window openings. Stop-chamfered joists are present, with stairs originally in the rear half of the service bay. The hall features close studding and a thick sill probably intended for an oriel window. An inserted stop-chamfered cross-axial binding beam, joists and fireplace bressumer are present, with traces of a four-centred arched door head connecting the hall through the smoke bay to the parlour. The smoke bay contains newel stairs behind the inserted stack, with a three-light cavetto-mullioned window opening. The parlour displays close studding with chamfered mid-rails, chamfered crossed binding beams and a dragon beam, plain joists, and an original four-centred arched door head near the double-jettied corner. A chamfered four-centred arched brick fireplace is present.

On the first floor, arched braces support cambered tie beams, with braces removed from an open truss. Stop-chamfered four-centred arched fireplaces are evident. The hall chamber has five-light diamond-mullioned window openings, a stop-chamfered cross-axial binding beam and joists. The parlour chamber contains stop-chamfered crossed binding beams and joists with leaf stops, and a four-light window opening with roll and cavetto mullions and intermediate small diamond mullions, with cranked arched braces on the end wall. The original solar has stop-chamfered joists. Crown post mortices remain in the tie beams. The kitchen and dairy range features bar and jewel-stopped cross-axial binding beams and a five-light diamond-mullioned window opening.

The house stands at the front of a site surrounded by a moat with three arms. The manor was formerly known as Brands.