Menwenicke

Menwenicke

House built in 1582 for Robert and Ann Menwenicke, with substantial extension in 1771. The building is constructed of stone rubble, with the earlier range partly built in ashlar stone featuring a moulded plinth and moulded string course. The roof is slate, with a hipped end on the left and gable end on the right. Chimneys include a stone rubble end stack on the right, an axial stack to the left of centre, and a side lateral stack to the front wing.

The main range follows a three-room plan with a 2-storey porch and a one-room entrance wing on the front, and an outshut to the rear of the right-hand room. The arrangement is unusual: the central and right-hand rooms share an axial stack, while the right-hand room is also heated by an axial stack. The entrance probably lay right of centre, possibly with a through passage, later replaced by a 2-storey porch dated 1771. The central room above the passage is unusually small and possibly originally unheated, while the left-hand room was probably the principal room, lit by an impressive window with a fine fireplace. The large kitchen below, to the right, is heated by an end stack and contains a dog-leg stair in a stair turret to the rear, with a circa 18th-century outshut adjoining to the rear.

The exterior presents two storeys in an asymmetrical four-window front. To the far left is a six-light mullion window bearing the inscription "ANNO DOMINI 1582 BY M.E. ROBART AND AN MENWENICKE" above it, with the inscription continuing beyond the granite lintel onto adjoining ashlar stone. Above this is a 19th or 20th-century mullion and transom window. The wing to the left of centre features a round-headed arched entrance set back in its left-hand side wall, with a late 19th or 20th-century mullion and transom window above and to the right on ground and first floors. The front hipped end contains a 20th-century canted bay window on the ground floor and a late 19th or 20th-century mullion and transom window above. To the right, set slightly back, stands the 2-storey porch with a blocked entrance on the ground floor, a datestone reading 1771 on the lintel, and a late 19th or 20th-century mullion and transom window above, partly obscured by a 20th-century garage. Further right are a 19th-century double sash window lighting the kitchen and a late 19th or 20th-century mullion and transom on the first floor. A side entrance to the outshut retains a 17th-century chamfered timber doorframe with a 17th-century double-lapped and studded door, probably reset.

Internally, ceilings are plastered. The kitchen fireplace is blocked. Behind the kitchen a stair projection contains a dog-leg stair with a boarded balustrade. The central room has a 20th-century grate. The left-hand room features a fine granite 4-centred hollow-chamfered fireplace with a spandrel inscribed "R M". The front wing contains a late 18th or 19th-century stair. The first floor was not inspected.