Mansers Farmhouse

Mansers Farmhouse

Former farmhouse, dating from the early 17th century or earlier, with minor additions from the 19th and 20th centuries. The building is of timber-framed construction with brick nogging to the ground floor and tile-hanging to the first floor, covered by a peg-tile roof with brick stack.

The house faces east and originally comprised a single-depth range three rooms wide. The central room is the principal space, heated by a large axial stack at the left (south) end. The quality of the carpentry in this room suggests a parlour or hall function rather than a kitchen, though neither of the outer rooms are heated, raising the possibility that the original kitchen was detached. The service room to the south was originally very narrow and has been extended, probably in the 19th century. The larger service room to the north has a 19th-century stack added at its north end. The present entrance leads directly into the centre room at the north end, though it may originally have opened into a lobby against the axial stack. Evidence suggests the original stair rose against the front (east) wall of the larger service room. Twentieth-century alterations include an axial passage cut from the centre room against the rear wall, with a rear stair projection off the passage. A single-storey north-west wing of one room, set at right angles to the main range, was also added in this period. This wing was originally heated (its chimney shaft has since been dismantled) and according to the owners was used as separate accommodation for a dairyman. The roof was entirely re-laid in the late 19th or 20th century.

The exterior presents two storeys with an asymmetrical four-window front. A late 19th or 20th-century porch with a hipped roof is positioned to the right of centre. The windows are late 19th or 20th-century timber casements, mostly two- and three-light with two panes per light; paired casements light the centre room, and a three-light bay window with a 20th-century date sits at the extreme right. On the right return, a section of diagonally-laid brick infill is partly obscured by an added projecting stack. The 20th-century rear wing has a lean-to roof. The roof is hipped at the left end and gabled at the right, with a stack featuring staggered shafts and corbelled brick cornices.

The interior is rich in original carpentry, with much framing of large scantling exposed. The ground floor centre room contains a 17th-century open fireplace with chamfered stone jambs and a chamfered oak lintel. The longitudinal ceiling beam and exposed joists are chamfered and stopped. The right-hand (north) room also has a chamfered, stopped crossbeam and exposed joists of plainer character; this room was used as a dairy within living memory. A blocked doorway in the partition wall between the centre and right-hand rooms may once have provided access to the original stair. The left (south) service room retains evidence of the original end wall, which incorporated a ground floor window with timber stanchions. It is unclear whether the chamber over the centre room was originally heated; while there is a recess in the wall, redundant mortises suggest the framed partition was originally continuous. The wall framing includes wall posts with roughly-dressed jowls and curved up and down braces, some of which have been removed.

The roof is a complete replacement of the late 19th or 20th century, with no evidence of an earlier structure visible at the time of survey in 1988.

The building is a traditional house of the regional type with a well-preserved interior. It holds group value with Mansers opposite and to the east, which was the original farmyard to Mansers Farmhouse and was converted to residential use in the 1930s.