Upper Manor Farmhouse

Upper Manor Farmhouse

A house of late 15th or early 16th-century origin with substantial 19th-century additions, and later 20th and 21st-century alterations.

The earliest section is timber-framed, clad in brick or rendered, with the ground floor predominantly replaced in brick. The 19th-century section is constructed in soft red brick laid in Flemish bond, with the southern garden elevation rendered. Both ranges have tile roofs.

The late 15th or early 16th-century section comprises two storeys in three structural bays aligned south-west to north-east, with a hipped roof (formerly half-hipped) to the south-west. A large internal brick stack stands at the eastern end, with the remains of a fourth bay embedded in the later building. The original plan was a half-floored hall, meaning two bays at lower level but only one rising the full height. The 19th-century section is taller, with two storeys and attics arranged in two parallel gabled ranges aligned north-west to south-east, linked by a ridge roof on the main axis, and with an internal stack on the north-east range. Entrances are positioned centrally on the northern and southern elevations, with a secondary entrance on the north-east elevation facing the former farmyard.

The northern elevation of the early section shows two full storeys with two window bays. Windows are 20th-century timber casements of three and four lights; some on the first floor occupy early openings with 17th-century frames and mullions. A small cupboard window sits adjacent to the stack, which above the ridge is of 19th-century brick with a moulded band. The south-west wall is 20th-century brick cladding the timber frame at first-floor level. The southern elevation rises to one and a half storeys, with a 20th-century outer wall of brick piers and full-height glazing on the ground floor beneath a deep catslide roof, and small dormers in the early frame at first-floor level. A single-storey 20th or 21st-century gabled entrance and store projects at the southern corner.

The northern elevation of the 19th-century section is symmetrical, with a single window on each storey of each gabled bay, and the entrance placed beneath a first-floor window below the valley. Windows are 19th-century two-over-two pane sashes with slender glazing bars and without horns, mounted on masonry cills with flat arches and concrete lintels. The entrance has a similar lintel and a 20th-century glazed door beneath a plain overlight. The gables project with plain bargeboards.

The southern elevation is similarly proportioned with a central entrance beneath a canopy (under repair at the time of inspection in February 2018) and a wide four-panel door. Windows are predominantly 19th-century two-over-two pane sashes beneath slightly cambered arches, diminishing in size on each storey. An exception is a tall stair window in the left-hand bay with an arched head and margin glazing, flanked by small bathroom windows.

The north-east elevation is asymmetrical, with an entrance to the left reached by steps in a simplified moulded doorcase beneath a flat timber canopy supported on brackets; the door has six moulded panels. Windows are two-over-two pane sashes beneath cambered brick arches.

Interior

The ground floor of the late 15th or early 16th-century range has been opened up as a kitchen, retaining only some posts and bridging beams. These include a substantial transverse beam with 3-inch chamfers on both faces, which Edward Roberts interpreted as marking the separation between the full-height hall to the east and the single-storey space beneath a chamber above to the west. The bressumer on the chimneybreast carries a 2-inch chamfer. At first-floor level, the timber frame remains largely intact and exposed, featuring substantial jowled posts, some with rough 2-inch chamfers and others bearing traces of former paint schemes. The lateral walls display long arched braces, while the gable wall has small panels with arched braces. The central window on the northern elevation has moulded mullions, probably dating to the 17th century. The central transverse beam spanning the two-bay chamber, which corresponds to the current south-western room, is also chamfered and bears mortices for former joists. Exposed at first-floor level in the adjoining lobby is the truss above the hall of the medieval house, with a heavily sooted tie beam showing void mortices for arched braces and later studding. At the southern end it is partly covered by oak panelling, probably 17th-century in date. A slender door, possibly of later 17th or 18th-century date, has two large fielded panels.

The roof space is heavily sooted, particularly above the inner bays. The stack within the innermost bay measures 9.5 inches by 2 inches and is of brick. The partition wall between the stack and the Victorian range is of red, grey and burnt brick. The roof structure features robust trusses with vertical struts rising from the tie beams to support collars, though some intervening collars are missing. Square-cut side purlins with arched wind braces survive in most bays, and paired rafters remain without a ridge piece. The southern end of the roof has been altered from the original half hip to form a fully hipped roof. The structure is sooted and smoke-blackened, particularly towards the stack.

The 19th-century ranges were originally opened up on the ground floor, with partition walls removed to form the passage from the central entrance; one has since been rebuilt. Stairs at the rear of the house feature a closed string, columnar turned newels and stick balusters; the original flight runs from ground to first floor. Principal ground-floor rooms retain mostly 20th-century moulded cornices, some 19th-century skirtings and 19th-century window shutters, fixtures and fittings. Original chimney pieces and fireplaces have been removed or heavily altered, except for one on the first floor with a simple surround and round-arched cast iron grate. Doors on ground and first floors are generally four-panelled, those on the first floor in deep moulded architraves; attic doors are boarded.