Pickwick Manor

Pickwick Manor

A house with 14th and 15th century origins, largely rebuilt around 1664 for W. Wastfield Sr, with additions made in 1711 for W. Wastfield Jr, and subsequently restored and altered in 1920 by Sir H. Brakspear for himself. The building is constructed of rubble stone with stone tiled roofs and 19th century plain tiles to the front roof slope. Moulded copings run along the end gables of the main range, its west end, and two rear wall stacks. The structure comprises two and a half storeys.

The main front, dating from around 1664, presents four coped gables. Two-light attic windows with hoodmoulds punctuate the upper storey. The first floor contains seven mullion-and-transom two-light windows. A dripcourse marks the ground floor level, which features two original mullion-and-transom windows to the right, a door, and three 18th century twelve-pane sashes to the left, all set within bead-moulded flush surrounds. A moulded plinth runs along the base. The doorway itself is particularly notable: a six-panel door set within a large early 18th century bolection-moulded frame with panelled piers on each side, surmounted by scrolled brackets supporting a large shell hood.

The east end wall displays two dripcourses, a similar attic window, two matching first floor windows (one of which is blank), and a ground floor 12-pane sash window with a timber lintel positioned above a blocked opening. The west end contains a lower wing, possibly part of the original 15th century house, which was raised and altered in 1920.

The north-west wing, which encloses the forecourt, appears to be a 14th to 15th century domestic range. Its north end was converted to a barn in the 17th century. The south end is two storeys with a north end stack positioned on the ridge. On the east side, the first floor contains a two-light ovolo-moulded window and a heavily chamfered two-light medieval window, much restored. The ground floor features a door and a medieval four-light timber mullion window with chamfered mullions.

Beyond this lies a barn containing a similar four-light window with chamfered mullions and broach stops at half length, and two blocked openings, all with timber lintels. Heavy cornerstones mark the north end, topped by an upper two-light ovolo-moulded window with hoodmould. The west side of the barn has a dormer gable and three doors. Heavy floor beams with run-out stops to the chamfers support the interior. A three-and-a-half bay tie-beam-and-collar roof spans the barn. The rear of the two-storey section features a small moulded pointed single-light window.

The south front of the main range is dominated by a central stair tower with two early 18th century bolection-moulded windows positioned above a 1920 two-bay flat porch. An original rear door in a moulded architrave sits to the right of this tower, with a two-light window beside it.

To the left of the stair tower projects a wing added in 1711, three windows wide and two and a half storeys high, with an off-centre gable and parapet. This section displays three-window range of 18-pane sashes within bolection-moulded surrounds, with moulded string courses running over each floor and one 12-pane attic window of similar design. The sashes were all replaced in 1920. To the right of the stair tower stands a large projecting wing that was remodelled and raised in 1920, retaining an original three-light mullion window to its ground floor west side, with matching windows elsewhere either dating from 1920 or reused from the original structure.

The interior contains significant features of various periods. The entrance hall displays a Tudor-arched fireplace. A full-height stair with closed string, carved balusters, and square newels rises from here. A moulded flush square-headed fireplace appears in a subdivided room west of the hall. The ground and first floor rooms of the 1711 section are notably well-finished with fielded panelling and bolection-moulded fireplaces. The north-east upstairs room also contains a bolection-moulded fireplace, whilst the upstairs north-west room has a Tudor-arched fireplace. The upper room in the west wing features a stone fireplace with jambs curving outward as if to support a stone hood, probably late medieval in origin, though the flat lintel and carved shelf may date to the 17th century. The north-east ground floor room displays late 18th century style decoration and fireplace.

Historically, the house belonged to the Keynes family around 1560. It was purchased by W. Wastfield in 1639 and subsequently acquired by R. Neale in 1774.