Little Sodbury Manor

Little Sodbury Manor is a grade I listed manor house aligned north to south, combining work from multiple periods. The building was first constructed in the early 15th century for the Stanshaw family, then altered and extended in the late 15th and early 16th centuries for John Walsh, and again in the early to mid 17th century for Henry and Edward Stephens. The house was partly restored in the early 18th century after storm damage and underwent extensive restoration between 1913 and 1920 by architect Sir Harold Brakspear, commissioned by Lord Grosvenor and Baron de Tuyll.

The manor is built of rendered rubble with freestone dressings and quoins. It has Cotswold stone slate roofs with coped raised verges on kneelers, and ashlar square and diagonal chimney stacks. The plan is asymmetrical and irregular, typical of Tudor manor house development. At the centre stands the 15th-century hall with its cross passage and porch at the south end. To the south east is a 15th to 16th-century kitchen block, and to the south west is an early 16th-century wing. Beyond and between these are later extensions. To the north and north west of the hall is a former solar wing, remodelled in the 17th and 20th centuries but possibly incorporating 16th-century work.

The hall and porch are two storeys high. The hall has two restored 2-light windows with 4-centred heads and under-linked hood moulds. The porch is a 2-storey gabled projecting structure with diagonal buttresses, a moulded 4-centred doorway, and a 2-light casement window with cinquefoil heads above.

Extending from the porch is an early 16th-century wing of 2 storeys and 5 bays, with a further bay in a cross wing at the south end. This section displays a mixture of 2- and 3-light casement windows, some with plain mullions in architraves and others with ovolo moulded mullions and under dripmoulds. A central 1-2-1-light oriel window features a pierced parapet and moulded cill, with 4-centred heads to the oriel lights and first floor windows to the right, and cusped tracery to the window in the cross wing. Behind the north end of the south wing can be seen the pyramidal roof of the stair tower. A single storey and attic service and office wing extends further south.

Projecting to the north west of the hall is a 2-storey, 5-bay early 17th-century wing with 2-light cross and casement windows featuring ovolo moulded mullions and a continuous dripmould to the right. Beyond this and set back is the rear of the north front, which has paired multi-pane sash windows.

The north entrance elevation is part of the 15th and 16th-century house but has been extensively remodelled, consisting of 2 storeys and attics within 3 gables surmounted by stacks. The elevation displays 7 windows on the ground floor and 6 on the first floor, comprising 2- and 3-light cross and casement windows, some in plain architraves and others with ovolo moulded mullions and surrounds. A central panelled door is flanked by tall single lights.

The interior contains many notable features. The hall has a 4-bay arch-braced collar beam roof supported on carved corbels, with 4 tiers of carved windbraces. It features a restored 4-centred fireplace with carved spandrels. At the south end are timber-framed screens with traceried heads, the left screen dating to the 15th century and the right screen restored. Above an internal jetty is supported a timber-framed screen. At the upper north end are 2 restored arches of east and west oriels, with a panelled soffit to the east and a grotesque mask above the squint to the west.

The parlour or sitting room has been restored and contains a framed ceiling with classical motifs in plaster and a Gothic style fireplace. The entrance hall and drawing room retain 18th-century panelling, with the drawing room having been restored. The staircase dates to around 1635 and is a dog-leg design with turned balusters and pendants, approached through an arcaded section with Corinthian columns on newel posts. It has two 4-centred doorways with enriched spandrels and plank-studded doors.

The dining room contains early 17th-century panelling reassembled from other parts of the house, with figure carving in the upper sections. The oriel room features an early 17th-century ashlar fireplace bearing the initials of Edward Stephens and his wife (ESA), with a 4-centred head and carved frieze. The porch room has early 17th-century panelling and a fireplace with a 4-centred head bearing Henry Stephens' initials. The passage room retains 17th-century panelling and a fireplace with a 4-centred head.