Fritwell Manor

Fritwell Manor is a manor house, originally built in 1619 for George Yorke. It may incorporate elements from the 16th century, and was restored in 1893 by Thomas Garner, again in 1910, and enlarged in 1921 for Sir John Simon. The house is constructed of coursed squared limestone with ashlar dressings, and has a Stonesfield-slate roof with stone-and-brick stacks.

The building is arranged around an E-shaped plan with a rear wing and later additions. The two-storey main front, originally five windows wide, features three gabled projections, all with moulded gable parapets and projecting kneelers. The central porch wing is narrower and taller, with carved finials to the parapets and a stack rising from its ridge. The moulded round-arched porch entrance is flanked by detached Corinthian columns, on panelled bases, supporting an entablature which projects in three places. Above the entrance is a four-light window and the return walls to the porch have openings containing heavy stone balusters. All bays have ovolo-moulded stone-mullioned windows with king mullions to both floors, with the exception of a four-light window on the first floor of bay two. The gables have three-light windows, and there are two- and three-light mullioned windows in the short return walls. Dormer windows are set into the roof over bays two and four. Stacks are placed irregularly, featuring diagonal brick shafts. A wing added in 1921 is set back to the left and is in a similar style. The right end, connecting to the original rear wing, has prominent chimney projections with tall diagonal shafts and further ovolo-moulded mullioned windows. The rear of the wing has a double-pitched roof with plain stone-mullioned windows, enlarged and restored at ground floor. A 20th-century wing to the rear has matching gables, but the intermediate section, parallel to the main range, has casement windows and is likely from the 18th century.

Inside, some of the painted panelling in the hall may date back to the 17th century, as are the turned balusters of the rebuilt open-well staircase. The stone fireplaces at ground floor are likely restorations, with the exception of a large fireplace in the rear parlour. On the first floor, a principal room has a segmental plaster vault with Jacobean decoration, and the restored panelling includes strapwork panels and pilasters supporting an entablature. The house was formerly the home of the architect Thomas Garner. The building possesses group value.