East Down Manor

East Down Manor is a manor house, largely dating from the late 17th century, with significant remodelling to the facade during the 18th century. A central extension to the rear, containing a main staircase, was also added in the 18th century. In the 19th century, two large extensions, built with shale and slate roofs, were added to the rear of the house. Brick set-off and stone stacks are present, one at the ridge.

The main block of the house is arranged as a 3-window front, with a left wing of roughly coursed masonry blocks built upon a shale plinth. The central bay features a pediment, flanked by Doric timber copy-book pilasters, seemingly altered or rebuilt with red sandstone; straight joints are visible on the left side of the right-hand pilaster. Shale infill is present to the left of the end. Shale is also used on a smaller plinth to the right of the pilaster. The entrance is via a 9-paned half-glazed door, set within a triangular pedimented porch supported by Doric columns. Above the door is a sash window with a bulls-eye impediment. The left and central sections of the facade have three sashes with heavy glazing bars, 6 panes per sash, on both floors. Ground floor timber sashes to the right are 9 and 6 panes per sash, with a 6-pane sash above, all featuring moulded sills and flat stone arches. Above the extreme right-hand ground floor sash is a plaque showing the date 1577, flanked by the initials “PP” and a Pine family armorial device, suggesting the presence of an earlier mansion on the site. A canted bay window with a sash above has been inserted into a wide blocked relieving arch on the south side of the original block.

The house contains a pair of fine front rooms on either side of the entrance hall. The room to the left retains 17th and 18th century square panelling, divided by sections between Ionic fluted pilasters on bases with strapwork designs, surmounted by grotesque human and lion heads and a continuous carved panel frieze. The projecting chimney-piece has drapery work on the overmantel, above a plaque depicting crossed palmetters, above a scrolled fireplace surround. The room to the right is panelled in an early 18th century style. Doorcases and the overmantel of the chimney-piece have broken pediments with central ball finials. This room is divided at its upper end by a basket arch supported on two short lintels pierced by circular openings, which project from Ionic pilasters resting on pairs of Ionic columns. The larger bay features an enriched plaster ceiling with a central armorial shield of the Pine family, set within a foliate surround inside a double quatrefoil, and two outer rectangular moulded plaster strings. On the first floor, the front room to the north has panelling and a coved ceiling. The central room is panelled, and the adjacent room to the south has a coved ceiling. The stairwell hall to the rear has a coved ceiling and a large round-arched stair window, originally with niches on either side, but one to the south has been pierced to provide access to a rear extension. The entrance front may have been rendered at some point in the past.