Mapperton Manor House

Mapperton Manor House is a manor house with a complex history, dating from the mid 16th century (north range), the early to mid 17th century (main front), and incorporating mid 18th century alterations to the north range, with more modern changes. The building is constructed of ashlar stone, with stone slab and slate roofs, and features stone gable copings. Stone stacks rise from the ridge and north gable end.

The main front, dating from the early 17th century, is a two-storey structure with attic windows. It has seven windows, each containing two-light mullion-and-transom glazing with square heads and ovolo mouldings. The end bays project and are three-sided, with matching window details. A stone balustraded parapet, likely from the mid 18th century, tops the front. Three 20th-century dormers, each with a hipped roof, have been added. A projecting two-storey porch is centrally located, with an altered, depressed-arch outer archway. The achievement-of-arms of Richards Brodrepp sits above the archway, with a two-light window above that. The side walls of the porch incorporate internal niches with shell-headed tops, and include scratched initials and the date R.B. (Richards Brodrepp) 1666. A reset 16th-century inner doorway features moulded jambs, a depressed arch in a square head, and a Morgan crest in the spandrels.

The north range, originally built around 1500 by Robert Morgan, was refashioned around 1760. The south wall showcases three- and four-light stone mullions with four-centred heads. The uppermost window of four lights is a gabled dormer with twisted pinnacles, possibly dating to the 19th century. Clasping octagonal buttresses with spiral pinnacles, featuring griffin and lion terminals, are located at the corners of this range. The north wall was refaced and given sash windows with moulded architraves. A central bay was brought forward, interrupting the original 16th-century plinth mouldings. The total number of bays is five. A doorway at the centre has a moulded architrave and volute brackets with a pediment over.

A southeast block, formerly detached and dating from the 17th century, has been connected with modern attachments to house service buildings. These buildings share the same details as the main house, with two-light mullions and separate labels. A service doorway provides access through a corridor from the south wall, connecting to 20th-century walling and a muniment room that links the Dining Room to the chancel of the church.

The interior includes a 17th-century kitchen wing with a large open fireplace, featuring straight-chamfered jambs and a depressed-arch head. The Dining Room contains bolection-moulded panelling with a heavy entablature and cornice, and a similarly moulded stone fireplace. A former external doorway from the 17th century retains an oak draw-bar. A passage has a 17th-century screen with large baluster posts, altered by the insertion of modern doorways. The Hall features early 17th-century art-worked panelling and a fireplace with moulded jambs and a depressed-arch head. A plaster overmantel, brought from Melplash in 1909, is incorporated. A round arch with a panelled keystone connects to a north-west bay-window, displaying stone responds and Ionic pilasters. The Drawing Room is characterised by bolection-moulded panelling from the mid 18th century, alongside a mid 18th-century fireplace with rococo scrollwork and birds. An important late 16th-century ceiling exhibits a geometrical rib design with fleur-de-lis and coats-of-arms. Directly above the Drawing Room is a room with a notable pendant plaster ceiling. A later 18th-century staircase hall is located in the north wing.