Swallocliffe Manor

Swallowcliffe Manor is a detached house dating from the mid-17th century, with significant additions constructed around 1905 by the Cavendish family. It is built of dressed limestone, with some ashlar facing, and has a tiled roof with stone slates to the eaves. The building has ashlar stacks with moulded cappings. The original core is a T-shaped structure to which additions have been made to the north.

The house has two storeys and an attic, presenting a seven-window facade. A two-storey porch in an early 20th-century style is situated to the left, featuring a Tudor arched doorway, along with 2-light and 3-light ovolo-mullioned windows and a continuous string course, and a Dutch-style gable. A 20th-century range extends to the right, incorporating 2-light and 3-light ovolo-mullioned windows; the ground floor windows are pronounced by hoodmoulds. Two large external stacks are surmounted by groups of square stacks, and attic dormers have leaded casements.

To the left of the 20th-century range is the original mid-17th-century section, characterized by 4-light mullioned and transomed windows on both the ground and first floors and a 3-light hollow-chamfered mullioned window in the attic. String courses are present, and gable ends have coped verges. The front of this section, which originally faced the rear, features two 1-light hollow-chamfered windows and large external stacks with coped gablets and ashlar stacks. The first floor has a 4-light mullioned and transomed window. The rear of the house also features 4-light mullioned and transomed windows to both the ground and first floors. A cross wing echoes this style, with the west gable, facing the garden, incorporating 3-light mullioned and transomed windows with hoodmoulds, and coped verges with kneelers. The garden front of the 20th-century addition includes a lean-to porch to the right of a single-storey extension – both in the same style – with two slightly projecting, three-storey gables displaying 2-light and 3-light chamfered-mullioned windows, and 2-light mullioned windows between. The return of this range features an external stack and 2-light ovolo-mullioned windows.

The interior is largely from the early 20th century, with oak stairs in a 17th-century style and Tudor-arched stone fireplaces with brick backs. The original 17th-century range was refitted in the early 20th century but retains an original square-headed stone fireplace with an ovolo-moulded lintel and jambs with run-out stops. A datestone inscribed with the date 1647 is found in a first-floor room of the 17th-century range; it is said to have been plastered over in the 1980s.