Finstock Manor House

Manor house, dated 1660. Early and mid-20th century alterations and additions were also made. The house is constructed of squared and coursed limestone with ashlar dressings, while the sides and rear are of coursed rubble. It has a stone slate roof. The building is in an L-shape, with two storeys and an attic. Key features include chamfered quoins, continuous hood moulds over the ground and first floors, and parapeted gables with moulded copings. There are three integral dressed stone end stacks: one to the left with chamfered offsets to two square shafts and a moulded cornice, one off-centre to the right (possibly rebuilt) with a rectangular shaft and moulded coping, and a large stack to the rear wing with weathering, a chamfered offset and a moulded cornice. Three large gabled dormers, each with globe finials at the base and apex, are visible in the attic, along with oval stone windows with panelled spandrels, hood moulds, and square-leaded glazing with central square casements.

The main front has three bays with three-light, hollow-chamfered mullioned stone windows with square-leaded lights in metal casements, though the left-hand ground-floor window is likely a late 19th or 20th-century restoration. A central doorway has moulded jambs, a depressed-arched head with impost blocks, panelled spandrels, and an outer square moulding, now with a 20th-century small-paned glazed door. A moulded recessed square datestone above the central attic window reads “IM/1660,” and a copper fire insurance plate is positioned above the door. A blocked 2-light mullioned stone window with a returned hood mould is found on the left-hand gable end. A 20th-century six-panelled door is set within a pilastered and pedimented stone doorcase.

The garden front has three parapeted gabled dormers, with the right-hand pair appearing restored or dating from around 1900, all with moulded copings, globe finials, and oval windows. A three-window front features mullioned and transomed stone windows with returned hood moulds, some of which appear restored or date from around 1900. A lower, single-storey section to the right has a three-light leaded wooden casement. The rear of the house features a first-floor 2-light mullioned stone window and a stair tower in the angle of a wing, with a gable to the rear and side, and a first-floor 2-light mullioned stone window with a returned hood mould and an integral stone stack to the side. Further first-floor one- and 2-light mullioned stone windows with returned hood moulds are present to the rear of the wing.

The interior includes a partially inspected C17 dog-leg oak staircase with landings leading to the attic, having a closed string, turned balusters, a chamfered handrail, and chamfered newel posts with finials—the foot newel posts rising to full height. A Tudor archway is located at the foot of the staircase, showing evidence of a former dog gate. The staircase returns to the top landing.