Old Manor Farmhouse

Old Manor Farmhouse

A farmhouse, now converted to a house, with origins in the 15th century. The building was substantially developed in the early 17th century with a rear wing, followed by a later 17th-century addition to the right. Further alterations and additions were made in the 19th and 20th centuries. The structure is built of limestone rubble with pantiled roofs and brick stacks.

The building originally functioned as an open-hall house with two bays surviving, though it was formerly extended further to the left with a wing to the rear and right, creating an L-plan configuration.

The west front is two storeys tall. At ground floor level are two 2-light casements with timber lintels to the left, which formerly had a door. The gable end of the second addition to the right features 2-light casements at ground and first floor levels with a buttress to the left. The left return displays the gable end of the hall on the right with a straight joint where the rear wing meets it to the left. The rear wing's gable end projects above the roof level of the hall. The hall's gable end contains a central stack with 2-light casements to each side at ground floor, where there were formerly two doors. The stack appears to have been repositioned and the wall partially rebuilt. A line visible in the gable indicates the roof was raised at some point. At first floor level, another 2-light casement shows rebuilt stonework below, marking where a door to the second room once stood before the open hall was floored over.

The two-storey rear wing to the left has two 2-light casements with timber lintels at ground floor and a French window, with two similar windows at first floor and a small blocked window under the eaves to the right. The right return of the wing to the right has a 20th-century door flanked by buttresses, a small 4-pane casement to the right and a 2-light casement, with two blocked windows at first floor under the eaves. The rear elevation shows 2-light casements at basement, ground and first floor levels. Within the angle of the L-plan stands a two-storey, flat-roofed 19th-century addition. Its right return has two ground floor and three first floor 2-light casements, with a 2-light casement and door to the rear and a similar first floor window. The inner side of the rear wing contains small 2-light casements with timber lintels at ground and first floor levels, formerly a door at ground floor with a blocked window at first floor to the right and a small attic light.

Interior

The ground floor room of the former hall features a framed ceiling in four sections with heavy deep-chamfered beams and an inserted stack to the right. At first floor level, two bays of the roof remain visible, one with a double collar with arched braces (all chamfered), one row of purlins and one pair of windbraces to the rear slope, with two pairs to the front, half curtailed where the hall formerly extended further. One purlin bears a carpenter's mark reading "III".

The first floor room of the addition to the front right has a ceiling higher than that of the hall roof.

The rear wing contains two rooms. The ground floor centre room has deep-chamfered beams with step and scroll stops, and a fireplace with a cambered lintel. The rear room has one stopped beam while others are boxed. At first floor, the centre room has bar and scroll stopped beams (chamfered), and the rear room has similar beams with one beam along the dividing wall supported on a corbel. The rear fireplace features a fine plaster overmantel with three round-headed panels, a central shield bearing three chevrons, and a winged cherub to each side.

The addition to the front right has chamfered beams with step and run-out stops at ground floor and a fireplace with a cambered lintel. The original external wall of the hall formerly contained pigeon holes, with one remaining.