Ockwells Manor And Wall Attached On The South East

Ockwells Manor is a large manor house in a landscaped setting on the south side of Ockwells Road, Bray. Built for Sir John Norrey between 1446 and 1466, it is one of the finest surviving examples of 15th-century domestic timber-framed architecture. The building was extended and altered in the 16th and 17th centuries, restored and extended in the 19th century by Fairfax Wade, and restored again in 1986 by O Mansfield Thomas and Partners of Hertfordshire.

The structure is constructed of timber frame with part rendered infill but mostly brick infill, some laid in herringbone pattern. The roofs are of old tile with gables of different heights. The building is arranged around a small central courtyard with cloisters on two sides and is mostly two storeys with some parts rising to two storeys and attics.

The plan comprises a hall of four framed bays with a screens passage and porch on the east side; a three-framed bay solar crosswing on the north; a former servants and service wing of six framed bays on the south; and an additional former kitchen wing of four framed bays on the west. A 19th-century extension projects at right angles on the north. A former chapel was attached on the south-east corner, of which only one wall now remains.

Seven large chimneys with offset heads and clay pots rise from the building, with two chimneys featuring clustered shafts on the 19th-century extension.

The entrance front faces east. The timber frame is mostly exposed with some replacements, and brick herringbone infill is visible. The hall in the centre has gables on each side, each with bargeboards carved with intricate pierced and foliated ornament and traceried panelling above moulded tie-beams. The left gable contains a 19th-century elaborated traceried eight-light oriel window with single-light returns, with a four-light window below. The right gable has a full-height 19th-century canted bay window with six-light windows on both floors of similar design to the oriel window. The centre section contains a ten-light window to the hall at high level, and to its right is a gabled bay with two levels of six-light windows lighting the high end of the hall. On the left is a two-storey gabled wide entrance porch with a four-light window on the first floor and a four-centred wooden arch below with carved spandrels. The entrance door is original, set back with wide planks, original large strap hinges and large rimlock. Both gables in the centre section are smaller with bargeboards of similar design. The south and west fronts are plainer and irregular, with the timber frame mostly exposed. The 19th-century extension is in Tudor style.

Windows throughout are diamond-leaded casements with diamond mullions, some dating to the 17th century, but most are of the 19th century or from 19th-century restorations.

The interior has been very little altered from the original and displays fine quality timber frame throughout, with much 15th-century work remaining. Queen post roof trusses with clasped purlins are visible in most rooms on the first floor, complete with wide rafters and curved windbraces. Two bays of a redundant crown post roof with side purlins survive in a former ante-chamber on the north side of the courtyard.

The hall features a moulded arch-bracketed collar roof with curved windbraces and moulded wall plates. The lower part of the walls is lined with 17th-century panelling, and the former dais level is indicated by the flooring height of the gabled hall window. The upper part of this window and the other windows on the east side of the hall contain eighteen very fine armorials. On the west side in the second bay from the north is a 15th-century stone fireplace with a four-centred arch within a square head containing a casement moulding, flanked by engaged shafts with moulded caps and bases, and with a continued moulding forming a cornice. The screens passage is on the south, with planked screens with plain cills and rails and uprights with hollow-chamfered angles enclosing narrow panels. Above this is a panelled front to a gallery. The lower panels on the service side of the screens passage have cinquefoil heads. On the south side of the passage are two doors, each with moulded posts and a four-centred head with traceried spandrels.

On each floor of the former solar block there is a stone fireplace and full-height wall panelling, all of the mid to late 16th century. The former kitchen still retains the original buttery hatch facing the courtyard, with a large plank falling flap, large strap hinges and stays.

Two staircases exist within the building. The staircase on the south is probably of the 15th century and is a straight flight between two walls with no balusters. The principal staircase is on the north at the west end of the solar wing, is of the early 17th century, though much restored, and has moulded strings, raking turned balusters, and large square newels surmounted by heavy finials.

An attached wall is located on the south-east corner of the building (see separate entry for the former chapel wall).