The Manor House

The Manor House is a country house that now serves as the County Fire Brigade headquarters. Originally built in the late 18th century, it was extended in 1888-1889 in a similar architectural style. The building is constructed of ashlar stone with hipped slate roofs and ashlar stacks. It has two storeys and an L-shaped plan that extends to a roughly square shape.

The main south front features a symmetrical arrangement of windows in a 1:3:1:3:1 pattern. The central and corner bays are set back, flanking projecting sections that include full-height canted three-window bays. The windows are framed in moulded architraves, with 12-pane sashes on the first floor and 19th-century plate glass sashes below. The centre of the façade has a glazed door with an overlight, set within a shallow screen of two Roman Doric columns in antis. The front is adorned with a raised plinth, a panelled band, a modillion cornice, and a parapet.

The broad east entrance front has similar detailing to the outer bays, but features a projecting centre added in 1889. This section includes a dentil cornice, paired first floor sashes above a broad panel with a roundel monogram of J.R.G. Gwatkin, and a glazed door with sidelights set behind a screen of two columns on a high base. The west front, partially obscured by brick additions, resembles the main front but may primarily date from 1888-1889. It has a four-window range with tripartite sashes in one bay, 12-pane sashes in the rest of the first floor, and a 19th-century three-light mullion window and door within a 19th-century tiled porch on the ground floor.

The north end wall, facing the road, is blank but carries the main mouldings across and features a large carved Gwatkin arms on the first floor, dated 1889. The recessed rear of the main range is three-storey and appears to be late 19th century. The interior has not been inspected. The Manor of Potterne was held by the Bishops of Salisbury until 1836, and a Manor House is mentioned in a lease from 1770. It was sold in 1836 to Major H. S. Olivier and later to J. Gwatkin in 1878.