The Manor

The Manor is a detached house with a complex history, dating to the late 16th century and significantly altered in the 18th century, with further additions in the 1930s. It is located in the north side of Homington village, Coombe Bissett. The front of the house was refaced around 1700, and a rear wing was added around 1730, later complemented by a 1930s service wing to the rear left. The construction combines C18 Flemish bond brickwork to the front, timber framing to the rear of the original 16th-century range, and a header bond for the 1730s wing. The roof is tiled, and there are brick stacks. The house is arranged in an L-shape, now forming a 'U' shape with the C20 additions.

The main front is two stories and an attic, featuring a four-window arrangement. A planked door is set within a weatherboarded gabled porch on the right side of the centre. To the right of the door is a two-light casement window, and to the left, a tripartite sash window and a two-light casement, all with segmental-arched heads. The first floor has two two-light casement windows and two single casement windows, with a two-brick plat band running across. Three hipped dormers, dating to the 20th century, are visible in the attic.

The right return side of the house is a mix of chalk and brick, with a tile-hung gable, two two-light casement windows on the ground floor, three two-light casements on the first floor, and one two-light casement in the attic. The left return is the garden front of the 18th-century wing, a two-story, five-window elevation with one 12-pane sash window on the ground floor to the left, a blocked central door, and a 20th-century half-glazed door. A three-brick string course runs across the first floor, featuring bullnose bricks to the lowest course, topped by three sash windows. A coved eaves cornice is present. All sashes have thick glazing bars and flat arches with keystones. The right part of the left return displays the original 16th-century range, with two 12-pane sash windows on the ground floor and two two-light casements on the first and attic floors.

The rear of the house includes a 20th-century single-story extension on the left side. The central part of the 16th-century range has a timber-framed first floor with a two-light casement and a 20th-century lean-to on the ground floor. The 18th-century wing to the right has a two-span roof with an external stack, with French windows and sashes on the first floor, connected to a 20th-century conservatory.

Inside, the four-bay timber-framed 16th-century range features chamfered beams with concave stops (stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops), a former central open fireplace that has been removed, and a west fireplace with a cambered lintel and chamfered stone jambs. Planked doors are fitted with ‘L’ or butterfly hinges. The 1730s wing has doors with fielded panels. The ground floor drawing room has a fine plaster ceiling with a Rococo centre-piece, very similar to that found in Mompesson House, Salisbury; it also features fielded panelling above a moulded dado rail. The staircase within the wing has a moulded dado and cornice.

Historically, the house was likely owned by the Wyndham family in the 17th and 18th centuries, who may have added the west wing around 1730.