Idbury Manor

Idbury Manor is a farmhouse, now a house, dating from 1570, with substantial rebuilding in the late 17th century and subsequent additions and alterations. The front and left gable end are constructed of limestone ashlar; the rear and right gable end are of roughly coursed rubble, with a stone slate roof and coped verges. The building follows a double-depth plan, with two storeys, a semi-basement and an attic. The front has three windows, featuring three-light, cavetto-moulded leaded mullion windows, except the centre window on the first floor, which has two lights. A central entrance has a 20th-century ledged door, sheltered by a ribbed segmental wooden hood, with a flight of steps leading up to it. There are gabled dormers to the left and right, with 20th-century wooden cross windows extending below the eaves. A roundel above the centre first-floor window is inscribed "O/MORE THAN/HAPPY/COUNTRYMAN/IF/HE BUT KNEW/HIS GOOD/FORTUNE.” The twin gable ends have external end stacks with integral shafts, featuring moulded dripstones and capping. Four narrow rectangular windows are vertically aligned to the right of the rear stack on the left side. The bottom window has a moulded datestone inscribed "M/1570.” The rear elevation retains an original fenestration pattern, with three windows to the first and second floors. The left and right windows are three-light mullioned, while the centre window is two-light. The right first-floor window has been slightly enlarged, with the mullions removed. A late 20th-century narrow rectangular window is situated between the centre and left windows on the first floor. Two gabled dormers have four-light, leaded mullion windows. The semi-basement has three-light mullion windows to the left and right, with inner plank doors, and an infilled two-light mullion window to the centre.

The interior main ground-floor room (originally two rooms with a central cross passage) features four chamfered cross beams and a large open fireplace with a segmental stone lintel to the right. A dog-leg staircase in the rear range leads to the attic and continues down to the semi-basement, with slender turned balusters, a closed string and a moulded handrail. A small moulded stone fireplace with a pedimented overmantel is found in the left ground-floor room of the rear range; a similar fireplace is present in the rear right room on the first floor. Plank doors are used throughout the house, along with chamfered ceiling beams in other ground and first-floor rooms. There is a three-bay barrel-vaulted cellar, with the centre bay divided by a 20th-century brick wall. The front range has a collar and tie beam roof in five bays, with three butt-purlins to the front wall. A similarly constructed roof with double purlins is present in the rear range.