Godlingston Manor

This entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 25 July 2018.

SZ 08 SW 1/146

WASHPOND LANE Godlingston Manor

26.6.52

GV I An important medieval house, incorporating a circular tower, probably defensive in origin. Purbeck Stone walls. Purbeck Stone roof. Stone chimney stacks. According to the RCHM the tower is contemporary with the main part of the house, that is circa 1300, but from the junction of the two structures it appears to be of earlier origin, and may perhaps once have had a timber hall. The main house is of typical medieval form, with an entrance leading into a through-passage. West of this was the service block, with the tower leading off its west end. East of the passage is the hall, originally open to the roof, but floored over in the C17. East of the hall is the parlour/solar block, roofed at right angles to the hall, but rebuilt after a fire in the C19.

When the hall was floored over the rear wall was rebuilt and a staircase block built at the north end of the through passage. (Hutchins, however, states that in the C18 the rear doorway was still visible.) In the C18 a new kitchen wing was built to the rear (north) of the service block. The interior has been drastically remodelled, all the roofs being renewed, and retains few early features, although a C17 fireplace has recently been uncovered in the wall between the hall and the parlour.

The tower has a blocked external door at the front, and arrow-loops in the two upper storeys. Its conical roof is covered with Purbeck Stone. On the main south front, the ground floor of the house has a doorway with a pointed trefoil arch, leading into the through-passage. West of this, in the service block, is a three-light stone mullioned window on the ground floor. On the upper floor, a dormer, with hipped roof, has a similar window. The hall has two stone mullioned windows, of two and three-lights. Above these are two dormers, with hipped roofs, and stone mullioned windows. All these windows are of C17 date. The parlour has a four-light stone mullioned window, with a similar three-light window above it, all of C19 date. In the gable the head of an earlier medieval window has been re-set. The C18 kitchen wing is of two-storeys and has some stone mullioned windows and some modern casements. (RCHM Monument 12.)