Manor House

Manor House, Bucknell

This is a manor house now divided into two linked dwellings, located on the south side of Bainton Road. The building dates to the early 17th century, possibly with elements from earlier periods. It was substantially altered and partly rebuilt around 1700 for Lenthall Trotman, extended around 1830 for the Tyrwhitt-Drake family, and further altered in the late 19th and late 20th centuries.

The house is constructed of partly-coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings. The roofing is mixed, comprising Stonesfield slate, Welsh slate, plain tile and artificial stone slate, with stone and brick stacks. The plan is H-shaped, enlarged to a courtyard plan with subsidiary wings. The building rises to two storeys plus attic in the main ranges, with three storeys in some sections.

The symmetrical front of the central range features five windows of coursed rubble, probably rebuilt around 1700 to replace the original hall range. The windows are late 19th-century stone-mullioned with transoms, all of two lights except for a single-light window above a 19th-century stone porch. The front door retains a stone architrave. Three 19th-century roof dormers punctuate the roof line. Both crosswings project slightly below gables with scalloped bargeboards, which may date to the 17th century. The right wing has a plinth and moulded strings to both floors that step back slightly, returning to a long wing featuring a two-storey five-sided bay window. All windows in this section have 19th-century stone mullions and transoms, except for a 19th-century ovolo-moulded two-light stone-mullioned window in the rear gable. A lateral stack retains a 17th-century diagonal brick shaft. The lower left crosswing has similar renewed windows in its front gable wall and massive rubble stacks rising from the left side; it extends further to the rear with a steep hip at the far end of the roof.

A three-storey squared-rubble range dating from around 1830 links the two main ranges. Its garden front is symmetrical with three windows, featuring 12-pane first-floor sashes, shorter sashes above, and inserted mullioned windows at ground floor level. This range has a shallow-pitched Welsh-slate roof with projecting boxed eaves. Low stone-slated service ranges form a further courtyard to the left of the house and link to a taller range of 1865 with large mullioned-and-transomed windows, which may have contained a billiard room or schoolroom. A single-storey late 20th-century range extends forwards from the left side of the house.

The interior contains substantial early 17th-century features. The main (north) and west ranges preserve much 17th-century panelling and three fireplaces. The hall fireplace has a triple-arched overmantel. The other fireplaces and some decorative panelling may comprise re-used work from Jacobean beds. The attic of the west range contains two moulded 17th-century doorways. A fine early 17th-century plaster ceiling in the west range features elaborate strapwork and roundels depicting the heads of historical figures. The same room contains mid-18th-century fielded panelling with an arched pilastered entrance and a Rococo fireplace from another room. Four additional bedrooms have plainer pine panelling and 18th-century fireplaces, with some panelling re-used from elsewhere. An early 18th-century egg-and-dart fireplace with an elaborate frieze and cornice, now in the east range, is also a relocated piece. An early 18th-century closed-string stair rises to the attics and features ramped moulded handrails and turned balusters. The south range, now forming part of a separate dwelling, dates to the early 19th century and contains a fine drawing-room fireplace with fluted Ionic columns. Butt-purlin roofs to the east, north and west ranges are all probably of around 1700.