Westwood Manor

Westwood Manor is a Grade I manor house of early to late 15th-century origin, with significant 16th-century and 17th-century additions. The building was restored in the early 20th century for E.G. Lister. It is now owned by the National Trust.

The house is constructed of rendered rubble stone with a stone slate roof featuring coped verges and stone stacks. It is built to an L-plan with two storeys.

The south front comprises a three-window elevation with a prominent two-storey porch featuring a Tudor-arched doorway and string course. The porch has a three-light ovolo-mullioned casement to the first floor, with a blind sundial or inscription panel above. The inner Tudor-arched doorway is ribbed, with a three-light ovolo-mullioned casement and hood mould to its right and a four-light casement to its left. A continuous string course runs to the first floor, where there are six-light mullioned casements with king mullions (formerly eight-light) to the left and a three-light mullioned casement to the right. A cylindrical 17th-century stair turret to the left features two-light ovolo-mullioned casements and string courses.

The right return of the main range is blank, with only truncated remains of a former east wing, which was demolished in the early 20th century.

The west wing projects to the left and features an early 16th-century two-storey bay with arched lights to mullioned casements, the ground floor being wider than the upper storey. The upper storey has a single arched light, and a hipped attic dormer contains a two-light casement.

The lower south end of the west wing may be earlier in date. It has a ribbed square-headed door to the left of centre, with two-light chamfered mullioned casements on either side and a chamfered Tudor-arched door to the right. A blocked depressed arched door lies to the left. The first floor features an oriel with arched lights to the left, a two-light chamfered mullioned casement, and two mullioned casements with arched lights to the right.

The rear of the main range has a lean-to to the left with a three-light mullioned casement featuring arched lights, and a two-light hollow-chamfered mullioned casement to the right. A large gabled stack to the centre has a ribbed door, two two-light recessed chamfered mullioned casements, and a blocked single-light to the right. The first floor has two two-light mullioned casements with arched lights and one two-light ovolo-mullioned casement to the left of the stack, with two-light and four-light ovolo-mullioned casements to the right.

The rear of the west wing has a ribbed door, four-light chamfered mullioned casements to the left of an early 20th-century kitchen wing, a three-light ovolo-mullioned casement, and three two-light mullioned casements with arched lights to the first floor. A 1920s wing features mullioned casements, with two-light and three-light restored examples to the right-hand part facing south, one arched light and a two-light mullioned casement to the first floor, and a single-storey addition to the right. The left return of this wing facing south has an external stack and an arched light to the ground floor.

Interior

The hall in the north range was converted to a parlour in the early 17th century by John Farewell, when a ceiling was inserted. It features deep chamfered beams and a 1920s fireplace, with a good screen at the east end boasting fluted pilasters and two doors, a fluted frieze, and wainscot panelling.

The early 17th-century parlour, known as the Kings Room, is situated at the east end of the hall. It has a 1920s fireplace and an ornate plaster ceiling with ribbed panels decorated with fruits and acorns. A plaster overmantel is adorned with two-tailed mermaids and fishes, with some of the plasterwork possibly restored in the 1920s. The room contains wainscot panelling with painted portraits of English monarchs up to Charles I, brought from Keevil Manor around 1910.

Winding stairs with renewed treads occupy a corner turret, while another 17th-century stair is situated at the screens end of the hall.

The first floor of the main range contains a fine early 17th-century chamber over the hall, featuring a low-pitched plaster ceiling with frieze and coving below, decorated with trefoils, strapwork and pendants. The restored fireplace has a plaster overmantel, 17th-century wainscotting, and internal wooden porches.

A bedroom at the west end of the chamber has a plaster ceiling in four sections with a cusped rib pattern and birds and shells. It has a stone Tudor-arched fireplace with plaster cornice and three projecting sections of entablature, similar to others in the house.

The library in the north west corner has a late 16th-century plaster arched doorway, possibly from the 1920s, and very deep chamfered beams with stepped stops and exposed joists.

The sitting room in the south wing has 16th-century stained glass roundels in its bay window, a plaster ceiling with square ribbed panels and floral motifs, 1920s panelling and an inner porch, and a Tudor-arched fireplace.

A good Tudor-arched doorway with ledged door connects the sitting room to the south end of the wing. Attached to the south end of the wing is a rubble stone wall with saddleback coping, running eastwards to the stable. Lister inserted a 17th-century-style gateway with a semi-circular archway, moulded cornice, and strapwork cresting.