Manor House

Manor House. An early 17th-century building, possibly of earlier date, that was substantially remodelled in the late 17th century, probably for the Wickham family. It is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, with an old plain-tile roof and stone stacks that have brick shafts. The building follows a double-pile plan and rises to two storeys with attics.

The main range presents a symmetrical seven-window front facing north. A central round-headed doorway with moulded architrave and plain key-block is set beneath a wooden segmental hood supported on consoles. Each side of the doorway contains windows of 2, 3 and 2 leaded lights respectively. All windows have concave-chamfered mullions and 4-centre arched heads linked by a continuous label. The storey above has a similar arrangement with a central single-light window but no label. Three rendered gabled roof-dormers with 3-light wooden casements break the roofline. The roof rises from a stone eaves-cove and is flanked by massive stacks and gable parapets with console kneelers and ball finials. Lower two-storey flanking wings set flush have similar 2-light windows at first floor, gable parapets to M-shaped roofs, and are slightly later in date.

The south-facing rear front is similarly detailed but features rows of 4 single lights flanked by 4-light windows at ground floor and 3-light windows at first floor. Four irregularly-spaced 2-light basement windows are set in the plinth. A lower bay to the left with similar windows of 3 and 4 lights is probably 18th century. A one-storey 20th-century kitchen wing stands behind.

The east front includes a stone doorway with rectangular moulded surround beneath an oval window. The roofs to the main block surround a square lead flat containing a central timber-framed stair turret with a tiled domed-pyramid roof.

The interior contains a former kitchen to the right of the entrance with a very wide fireplace beneath a 3-centred stone arch. Two 17th-century oak-panelled drawing-rooms feature Tudor-arched moulded stone fireplaces and heavily-moulded beams forming a 6-panel ceiling with dentil frieze. Upstairs are further Tudor-arched fireplaces, several heavy door-frames with moulded chamfer-stops, and two rooms with full-height 18th-century fielded panelling and moulded cornices. A 17th-century oak dog-leg stair rising to the attics has heavy turned balusters and lantern pendants and finials. At ground floor the newel is continuous and forms an Ionic column flanked by 3-centred arches.

Attached to the east wing on a walled terrace is a stone and tiled Italianate loggia of approximately 1920, designed by Philip Tylden for Philip and Lady Ottoline Morrell. The south-facing front has a raised centre of 3 arches on Doric columns flanked by terms set against rustic pilasters terminating in scrolls and stone pineapple finials, with a hipped roof behind the parapet. Three oval windows are set in the rear wall. The stone-paved terrace is supported by a curving stone wall with a double flight of steps flanking a central niche containing a mask set over a stone basin. To the right of the terrace is a pair of ashlar gatepiers with entablature and pineapple finials. The return wall to the right has two shell niches containing stone figures—a standing draped female and a nude male with lyre and quiver.

During the celebrated occupancy of the Morrells from 1915 to 1928, the house was frequently visited by D H Lawrence, Lytton Strachey, Aldous Huxley, Siegfried Sassoon and Bertrand Russell.