The Manor House

The Manor House is a country house built in 1767 for Ambrose Awdry IV, with subsequent extensions in the early 19th century. The main range is constructed of ashlar with a slate mansard roof and end stacks, while the north front is rendered with ashlar dressings and a slate hipped roof, featuring a west end stack. It has a basement, two storeys, and an attic.

The south front is a formal five-window arrangement, notable for its high moulded plinth, ground floor sill band, modillion cornice, and parapet. It features 12-pane sash windows on both floors, with the ground floor centre altered to a French window with steps. Five flat dormers are present. The end walls are plain, with blank windows and moulded details that continue around the stacks, culminating in a pediment over concave-curved coping on each side. An east end rainwater head is dated 1767. The east end former kitchen displays a moulded plinth, cornice, and a large, early 20th-century four-light mullion-and-transom window.

The north range is an addition, likely associated with the staircase of the 1767 house. The west end is ashlar, with a two-window range of blank windows, and a panelled chimney with ramped coping. The north front features an ashlar plinth, angle piers, a thin cornice, parapet, and plain ashlar surrounds to the upper windows. It has eight-pane sashes throughout, with a tripartite window to the first-floor centre. The rendering creates the impression of ashlar above and channel rustication below, with arches over the windows. A half-glazed door with a traceried fanlight is set within an Ionic ashlar two-column porch with pilaster responds raised on three stone steps.

The interior of the 1767 range boasts exceptional ground floor rooms, complete with fine plaster friezes and panelled doors in heavy, pedimented surrounds. The dining room (east) includes a large marble fireplace with a pulvinated frieze, while the drawing room (west) features a parti-coloured marble fireplace with scrolled jambs. Plaster friezes adorn the entrance hall, first-floor landing, and a small first-floor centre room, which has Palladian tripartite surrounds for the doorway and cupboards on either side. The staircase, with turned balusters, appears to be part of a forward extension dating to circa 1820. The former kitchen at the east end incorporates a large Tudor-arched stone fireplace, flanked by similar Tudor-arched recesses, likely dating from the mid to late 18th century.

The site was acquired by Ambrose Awdry II in 1695, who built a ‘mansion house’ before 1701. Ambrose Awdry IV inherited in 1761, rebuilt the house in 1767, and was subsequently outlawed for debt in 1783. Ambrose Awdry V regained possession in 1812, and the north front may have been added during his ownership. The house exhibits stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops.