Manor House With Gatepiers, Walls And Gates

Manor house, dating to 1724, and subsequently altered in the early 20th century and restored around 1947. It is now a dwelling. The building is constructed of knapped flint with brick dressings, a brick plinth, clay tiles on the front elevation, and slate on the rear. It has coped verges, boxed eaves, and brick stacks to the gable ends. The plan is L-shaped, comprising two main cells, a cross passage, and a service wing to the rear.

The house is two storeys plus an attic, with five bays. It features two inserted flat-roofed dormers, while the other windows are 12-pane sashes with horns. A first-floor tripartite sash window is present in the second and fourth bays. Brick quoins define the window openings; those to the larger opening have been renewed in yellow stock bricks. An intermittent five-course brick string runs across the facade. A centrally placed tablet is inscribed with the date 1724 and the initials ‘R(obert) M(itchell) Esq’. The ground floor has similarly arranged windows with segmental heads to the openings of the tripartite sash windows. A central six-panel door is sheltered by a flat-roofed porch supported by renewed shaped brackets. A bread oven projection is visible on the left gable end.

Flint and brick walls enclose the property, along with brick piers and a pair of wrought-iron double gates leading to the garage entrance.

The interior has been altered in the early and mid-20th century. A through-passage has been blocked by the insertion of a WC. A room to the left contains a wooden bolection-moulded fireplace surround, with an arched-head recess to the left of the fireplace. The room to the right features another 18th-century bolection-moulded surround fronting a large, blocked bressumer beam fireplace. This room retains narrow plank and muntin panelling, dating to the early 20th century, without cornice or plinth, and a similar finish is found in a bedroom above, featuring cupboards and vernacular-style door furniture. A flat beam with scroll stops and a round arched opening leads to the service wing. There are remains of an 18th-century plank and muntin door leading to a brick-lined cellar. A stud partition is present on the first floor of the front range, while the rear wing features a three-bay arcade to the bathroom, with imported fluted columns and remnants of 1930s decoration. Flat, stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops are visible in the southern half, buried in a partition wall, while the northern half has an unmoulded beam. An A-frame roof is present with remains of three tiers of purlins; the front range roof is boxed-in.

The building has undergone many alterations, making it difficult to determine whether the date of 1724 refers to its erection or to a refurbishment of a 17th-century building. The front range and wing appear to be contemporary. The property is believed to have been the manor house of Denton and was later used as the rectory; it was sold by the Church Commissioners in the 1960s.