Waterston Manor

Waterston Manor is a country house located in Puddletown, Dorset. It was likely begun in the late 16th century, possibly built on the site of an earlier structure for Thomas Howard; the house was largely rebuilt after a fire in 1863 and altered around 1911 by Percy Morley Horder.

The walls are a mix of ashlar, flint banding, brick, and roughcast, with a tiled roof featuring fish-scale tiling, stone eaves courses, and coped gables. Brick stacks are set along the ridge, featuring arched recessed panelled sides.

The south front, dating to the 17th century, has brick walls exhibiting a burnt header pattern in the upper part, which is roughcast. A parapet runs along the roof. The projecting central bay is semi-circular and constructed of brick and stone chequer-work. It features a flint and stone porch with a moulded round-arched doorway, flanked by Tuscan pilasters supporting an entablature. Above the porch is a first-floor stone mullioned window with nail-head ornament and lead lights. A balustraded parapet sits above this window. Each side of the bay, on the ground floor, are stone mullioned and transomed windows with lead lights. Raised brick quoins with moulded caps suggest pilasters. Similar windows are present on the first floor, featuring moulded heads and short pilasters carried on brackets, finished with detached moulded pediments. Three gabled dormers with stone mullioned windows and lead lights, the central one round-headed, are situated in the attic, each topped with pinnacles. Between the gables, large scalloped drainage openings are set into the parapet. Short lengths of wall at each end of the facade contain moulded round arched doorways, believed to be re-used elements from the house after the fire.

The east front, largely 19th century in origin, retains a central ashlar-faced gabled projection, featuring an early Renaissance "frontispiece" dated 1586, which appears to have been brought from another location. This projection extends into the attic gable and is three storeys high. The top stage has a round-arched niche with a statue, flanked by Corinthian columns supporting an entablature. Above this, a circular window is crowned by a pediment supported by rampant lions. Below, a three-light stone mullioned window has Ionic columns as mullions, flanked by two round arched niches containing statues, and Ionic columns supporting an entablature with intermediate brackets each side of the doorway. The lowest stage features a moulded round arched doorway with niches on each side, flanked by Tuscan columns supporting an entablature. Stone chimneys in the form of Tuscan columns are at the base of the attic gable.

The interior is predominantly 19th and early 20th century, with a possible inclusion of a 17th-century oak stair featuring heavy turned balusters. A single 17th-century stone fireplace surround is located on the ground floor.