Kennington Manor House And Attached Wall And Gatepiers

Kennington Manor House is a farmhouse, now a house, originally built in 1629 for Oliver Smith and Henry Bosworth. It was remodelled in the late 18th century, and the left end was truncated at that time. The house is constructed of coursed and dressed limestone to a moulded string course; the upper part is roughcast over a timber frame, with a late 18th century limestone rubble gable. It has a gabled, 20th century tile roof with a rendered ridge and a late 18th century brick end stack to the left.

The house has a three-unit lobby entry plan, with two storeys and a three-window front. A late 19th century six-panelled door (with four glazed panes) is set within a rendered surround, located to the right of centre, and is flanked by early 19th century canted bay windows with eight-pane sashes. A late 18th century three-light round-headed leaded casement window is positioned to the left. Similar four-light casements are on the first floor. The rear elevation features ashlar dressings around a 17th century canted wood-mullioned bay window, incorporating 19th century casements, flanked by early 17th century round-arched lights; one has a two-light wood-mullioned ovolo-moulded window. On the ground floor, a trio of early 17th century stone-mullioned ovolo-moulded round-arched windows are flanked by similar one-light windows, one of which was altered in the 19th century to create a doorway. A rendered stair turret with a three-light leaded casement window projects from the roof. A rear right wing is constructed from similar materials, incorporating 17th century one-, two- and three-light windows and a four-light wood-mullioned window. The rear gable has an early 19th century two-storey canted bay window replacing an earlier stone bay window. A 19th century extension is situated to the rear left.

Inside, a stack divides the space over the entrance. The house features moulded stone fireplaces, each uniquely carved with sunk spandrels. A large, double-chamfered stone fireplace with a corbel (possibly reset) is inscribed with "1629/OSHB" in a room to the left. A timber-framed stairwell is located to the rear, and timber-framed partitions divide the first floor. Rooms in the rear wing have plastered ceilings with moulded cornices to quartered beams, the soffits of which are decorative: trailing pomegranates on the ground floor and strapwork on the first. The roof was largely rebuilt in the late 18th century, but retains a collar truss at the front and a queen-post truss with a cambered collar at the rear.

To the right of the house is a short, 2-metre long wall connected to early 17th century gatepiers of limestone ashlar, each with a moulded entablature and ball finial. The entryway was filled in the late 18th century with a smaller, keyed archway. The house was built to accommodate Oliver Smith’s son and Henry Bosworth’s daughter, who married in 1629.