Manor House

Manor House, Honey Hill, Bury St Edmunds

House built 1736-8, designed by Sir James Burrough for Lady Elizabeth Hervey, wife of the 1st Earl of Bristol. The building is constructed of red brick in Flemish Bond on the front and English Bond on the sides and rear, with a high moulded stone plinth, rusticated stone quoins and stone details. The roof is tiled with a plain parapet above a moulded stone cornice.

The exterior comprises two storeys and a basement. The front has nine windows arranged 3:3:3, with the centre breaking forward beneath a triangular pediment and stone quoins. All windows are 15-pane sashes with eared stone architraves on stub brackets. The central double entrance doors are approached by a flight of stone steps with cast-iron railings. The doors are 12-panel, round-headed and recessed, set within a stone doorcase with semicircular arched opening, architrave, pilasters and a segmental pediment on long console brackets.

To the west of the main range is a high 19th-century extension with a screen wall in red brick with white brick dressings, linking Manor House with No.6 Honey Hill. This extension features a large arched central recess flanked by smaller recesses with bulls-eye windows above, and formerly contained a squash court. The parapet with moulded brick cornice is continued round the sides and across the back of the house.

On the east rear is a large canted bay added in the early 19th century. The upper storey has three long narrow 12-pane sash windows with three smaller sashes immediately below them. The centre breaks forward slightly with three 15-pane sash windows to the upper storey and a larger central 15-pane sash window below, set into a former doorcase and flanked by two blocked windows. On the west, there is a 15-pane sash to each storey and a small 9-pane lower sash. All windows on this rear front have dressings and flat gauged arches in darker red brick.

The interior retains its original 18th-century fittings with ornate plasterwork and woodwork, carved fireplace surrounds and a fine stair. The entrance hall is paved with limestone flags. A triple arched arcade with a higher central arch leads to the rear hall and stair. The stair has very light vase-on-reel balusters, open strings with ornate brackets, a ramped and moulded handrail and a bolection-moulded dado. At a higher level is a plaster band of vitruvian scrolls.

All rooms have heavy enriched modillion box cornices, often also with a plaster band of egg-and-dart ornament. Doors are 6-panel with raised fielded panels and panelled reveals. Panelled internal shutters, some enriched with bead-and-reel ornament, survive throughout. The fireplace in the entrance hall is particularly ornate; all fireplace surrounds feature a variety of decorations including egg-and-dart, dentils and bayleaf on the architraves.

The dining room to the left of the entrance hall has two supporting fluted pillars with Corinthian capitals at one end and matching pilasters along the walls. The Salon or ballroom above has an enriched coffered ceiling.