Parks Court

Parks Court, Upton Scudamore

A manor house dating from the 15th century, altered in the early 17th century by the Seaman family and restored in 1985–86. The building is constructed of rubble stone with a concrete tiled roof and diagonally-set brick stacks.

The house is planned as a two-bay open hall with cross wings. The front elevation presents two storeys with four windows. The entrance is marked by a Tudor-arched doorway with a strapwork-panelled door positioned to the left of the hall. To its right stands one 15th-century two-light window with cusped lights and blind Perpendicular panels to the top, finished with a square hoodmould. A 17th-century cross window sits adjacent. Above this, a 17th-century first floor gabled 3-light mullioned casement is set over the 15th-century window, now lighting a 20th-century gallery, with a blocked vent positioned above.

The left cross wing displays two cross windows with a single hoodmould to both ground and first floors, and a 2-light mullioned casement to the attic with a coped verge. The service cross wing to the right has a single cross window to ground and first floors. The right return was partly rebuilt in 18th-century brick, featuring 3-light and 2-light casements at ground and first floor levels. The rear gable retains timber-framing and a blocked doorway at ground level. The left return of the parlour cross wing has an external stack and a single recessed chamfered light to the first floor.

The projecting rear wing has a blocked doorway and a 3-light ovolo-mullioned casement with hoodmould above, together with a blocked mullioned window to the attic. The rear of this wing retains a blocked window at ground floor level, a 3-light ovolo-mullioned casement to the first floor and attic, and similar windows facing the rear courtyard. The stack was removed from this location. The rear of the hall displays a 20th-century single-storey lobby to the left, containing a Tudor-arched doorway and a reset 2-light mullioned casement, with a 3-light mullioned casement to the right.

Interior

The 1985 restoration involved the removal of a 17th-century floor inserted over the hall, the insertion of a gallery over the through passage at the west end, and the relocation of a 17th-century stack from its original central position in the hall to the east end.

The roof structure consists of two-bay deep arch-braced collar trusses with chamfered soffits and curved windbracing. A crown post to the upper part of the roof is partly visible below a barrel-vaulted plaster ceiling. A Tudor-arched stone fireplace is reset at the east end of the hall.

A good eight-panel wainscot door opposite the front door at the west end leads to the stair hall in the parlour wing. The dogleg stairs feature a closed string and turned balusters with a wide moulded handrail with square newels adorned with ball pendants, dating to approximately the mid-17th century, and rising to the attic.

A timber-framed partition separates the hall from the parlour, with ovolo-moulded doorcases and studded strapwork-panelled doors. The parlour contains 17th-century wainscot panelling and deep chamfered cross beams, along with a 20th-century fireplace. The rear sitting room has an ovolo-moulded doorway and a blocked fireplace.

The kitchen in the east wing is fitted with a deep chamfered beam with bar stops and an open fireplace with a lintel on stone jambs, together with two planked doors to the left and one leading to a winding stair. The first floor of the east wing has a timber-framed partition and planked doors. The first floor of the parlour range features two bolection-moulded fireplaces and doors with two fielded panels in ovolo-moulded cases, along with reset 17th-century wainscot panelling displaying a strapwork frieze.

Historical context

The Park family leased the house from the Hungerfords during the 15th century. The Seaman family undertook the 17th-century alterations and rebuilt the wings.