Baverstock Manor

Baverstock Manor is a detached house with a complex history, dating back to the 16th century and incorporating elements from the 17th century, with significant restoration work carried out in the 1930s. The construction utilizes dressed limestone and rubble stone, topped with tiled roofs, and features brick or stone stacks with moulded cappings. The building is arranged in an L-shape, comprising two main ranges with a through passage and a rear service wing.

The two-storey east front has three windows and features a chamfered plinth. A Tudor-arched ribbed door is protected by a hoodmould, alongside a 3-light hollow-chamfered mullioned casement to the right and two further 3-light mullioned casements to the left. The first floor mirrors this composition with three 3-light mullioned casements. A truncated external stone stack is visible on the right return, above two 20th-century hollow-chamfered casements. The left return boasts a two-storey canted stone bay with four-light mullioned and transomed windows, topped with obelisk pinnacles on the parapet, accompanied by a 3-light mullioned casement. The attic area has a single-light and a 2-light mullioned casement. The rear elevation showcases a 3-light chamfered mullioned casement and a 3-light ovolo-mullioned casement above, to the right of a straight joint. The left section features a 6-panelled door alongside a 3-light casement to the left and a 2-light casement to the right, with two further 3-light casements on the first floor. The eaves were raised in stone, possibly in the 18th century.

The single-storey service wing, likely built in the 17th century, has a planked door within a chamfered wooden surround, topped by a gabled canopy on its east side. It also has 3-light and 2-light casements, blocked doorways and three hipped half-dormers with 3-light casements to the attic. The rear of the service wing features 3-light and 2-light casements and three hipped half-dormers leading to the attic, plus a 20th-century door to the north gable-end and an attached single-storey extension.

Inside, the house retains several original features. There are three stone Tudor-arched fireplaces with moulded jambs in ground floor reception rooms, along with two fine Tudor-arched doorways in the former external wall separating the east and west ranges, one leading to the through passage. Original 16th and 17th century wainscot doors remain, alongside some 20th-century replacements. An 18th-century door with six fielded panels connects the drawing room and dining room, while a fine ovolo-moulded timber door surround exists between the smoking room and the passage. Timber-framed partitions flank the through passage and stairs in the west range, with restored timber framing in the rear service wing. Other original details include reset 17th-century turned stair balusters near the cellar stairs, and a deep chamfered doorway leading to the cellar. The first floor also has timber-framed partitions, chamfered doorcases with ogee stops, Tudor-arched stone fireplaces, and variations in floor levels that reflect the building’s different construction phases. The roof was largely renewed, though inaccessible for inspection in April 1986.

Historically, Baverstock Manor was associated with the Abbess of Wilton and subsequently passed to the Penruddocke family of Compton Chamberlayne in the 17th century. Mrs Benett-Stanford of Pythouse oversaw a significant renovation of the house during the 1930s.