The Manor House

THE MANOR HOUSE

A house of Grade I importance, built on Hydes Lane on the north side in Cold Ashton. Though traditionally thought to have been built for William Pepwall, Mayor of Bristol around 1570–5, it is more likely to have been built for John Gunning around 1629. The building was restored by Lieutenant Colonel Cooper in 1923, with later alterations made subsequently.

The house is constructed of rubble with rendered finish and stone dressings, with prominent quoins. The roof is of stone slate with raised coped verges and ball finials to the gables, fitted with clustered diagonal ridge stacks.

The building is arranged in a U-plan formed by two gabled wings with a recessed centre. It rises three storeys, with a gable at each side of the wings rising to ridge height and a similar central gable in the main block. The windows are arranged in a 1:3:1 pattern. Each wing has a canted bay at the front extending through two storeys. The ground floor bay features a 5-light window with ovolo mullions; the first floor has a similar window beneath a hipped roof, while the second floor has a 2-light casement with ovolo mullions and hood mould. All windows are fitted with early 20th-century leaded lights. A plinth and string course run above the ground and first floor windows. Stone gutters are carried round the central block and side elevations.

The inner sides of the wings each have 3-light casements at ground and first floor, with smaller versions at first floor and similar 2-light casements in the gables.

The central block features two large oval windows with bolection-moulded surrounds in rectangular architraves at ground floor level, with string courses carried over their heads. A central bay projects forward and contains a porch with plain pilasters rising from plinths with diamond mouldings. The pilasters have Roman Doric capitals and support a cornice, triglyph and rosette frieze with an upper cornice, all broken forward over the pilasters. The pediment contains a blank shield in a bolection-moulded recessed panel in the tympanum. The porch opening has moulded jambs and impost blocks with a scrolled keystone. Stone benches flank the sides of the porch, and the carved panelled door features fan carving in its upper section. The first floor has two similar 2-light casements and a central 3-light casement above, with a balustrade bearing Ionic capitals over each baluster. The second floor displays a gable set back behind the balustrade with a similar 2-light casement and dripstone.

The left return has a canted bay to the left extending through two storeys. The ground floor has a 3-light casement with ovolo mullions on the right side, with string courses above the windows. The first floor right has a blocked 3-light similar window. Two gables rise to ridge height, each with a similar 2-light casement and hood mould. A central pair of diagonal stacks rise from the roof slope.

The right return has two 2-light casements in gables, each with the left side blocked for a flue. The first floor right features a 3-light casement. A single-storey 20th-century addition in similar style, with door and windows, sits at this return. String courses match those at the left return, and each gable has a single diagonal stack with a paired central stack.

The rear elevation has three gables rising to ridge height with five windows. The ground floor contains two 3-light casements and two inner 2-light casements, with a central embattled porch featuring a round-headed opening, impost blocks and scrolled keystone, and a bolection-moulded surround to a 20th-century double door. The first floor has central and outer 3-light casements and two 2-light casements; each gable contains a 2-light casement with hood mould. String courses run above the ground and first floor windows, and stone gutters feature 20th-century decorative lead flashings.

Interior

The central passage contains original richly carved doors and screens, opening to the left into the hall. The hall has a bead and reel cornice to the jambs of arches with dentils and egg and dart carving at the top.

The front right room (west) features a plaster strapwork ceiling with putti and a 4-centred arched stone fireplace with moulded surround and mantel. A panelled cupboard is fitted within.

The front left room has a similar fireplace and is completely panelled. It possesses a plaster ceiling with frieze and decorative fruit at the corners, with a dentil cornice to the panelling, carved panels and balusters over the mantel.

The kitchen to the rear left contains a 4-centred arched internal window with shutter, a heavy moulded and stopped beam, and a large fireplace with a heavy chamfered timber lintel. Panelled cupboards are installed, one fitted with butterfly hinges.

A dog-leg stair with closed string, turned balusters and grip handrail ascends to the first floor. At first floor level, the west room is completely panelled with carved diamonds and fluted pilasters between the upper row of panels. It contains a Tudor-arched fireplace with painted fireback, fluted wooden Ionic pilasters to each side, and a more elaborate plaster ceiling than at ground floor level, with fluted Ionic pilasters flanking the windows. This room was formerly the solar, positioned above the hall. A former gallery, now floored in, is also present. Both rooms in the front wings have fireplaces matching those at ground floor level. All doors at first floor level are panelled with raised fillets in bolection-moulded frames.

A stair to the attic has larger turned balusters at landing level. Two rooms to the east contain stone fireplaces, smaller than those at lower levels. One plank and batten door remains, fitted with decorative strap hinges. The roof construction is not visible.