Alston Manor House

Alston Manor House is a farmhouse in Malborough, formerly a manor house. It dates from the early 18th century, with a later 18th-century addition behind which stands a ruined 17th-century wing. The whole building occupies an earlier site.

The early 18th-century front block is built mainly of hand-made bricks laid in Flemish bond on a stone plinth, though the right-hand side of the ground floor front wall is constructed of random stone rubble, representing a later repair undertaken when funds were more limited. The extreme right end of the front wall and the complete right-hand end wall were rebuilt in the late 20th century following the collapse of that end wall around 1979. This rebuilding uses concrete, rendered on the end wall and faced in new bricks for the affected small area of front wall.

The large range at the rear is constructed of coursed slatestone rubble. The front range has a hipped slate roof, while the rear range has a gable-ended slate roof. Three brick chimney stacks serve the building: one small stack behind the left-hand end of the front range, one between the two ranges, and another at the left-hand end of the rear range.

The development of the plan raises interpretive questions. The ruined 17th-century wing at the rear and early 18th-century front block are separated by a later 18th-century range, suggesting a pattern of alternate rebuilding. The later 18th-century range, though well-finished, appears to represent a rebuilding of an earlier service wing. The smart early 18th-century front consisted only of two principal rooms and an entrance hall. The later 18th-century range is unusually large for a service wing compared to the relatively small front block. It contains a passage running front to back with a large kitchen to the left at the front, smaller rooms to the right, further service rooms behind to the left, and a stairhall behind the right-hand room serving the whole house.

The house began to decline from the early 19th century onwards. Apart from alterations to the windows of the front range, there are few 19th-century changes. The 17th-century rear wing became ruinous and the end wall of the front range collapsed. Though this end was rebuilt, the house now stands in a somewhat dilapidated condition but otherwise unaltered.

The front range is two storeys, the rear range three storeys. The front elevation is symmetrically composed with five windows. The first-floor window left of centre is blind and painted to simulate a working window. Early 19th-century 12-pane hornless sashes are set flush with the outside wall. At the centre is a six-panel door with a rectangular fanlight recessed behind a panelled surround. A flat brick string runs between courses. Coved plaster eaves front the building, with overhanging eaves at the left-hand end, which has two similar sash windows.

The rear range is recessed from the left end of the front one, though they are virtually flush at the back. It has a plain stone parapet at the front concealing the eaves. The rear range front is symmetrically arranged with three windows. On the lower two floors, the outer windows are Venetian sashes with radial tracery in their semi-circular heads. The right-hand lower window was restored in the later 20th century; the window to its left has horns suggesting a 19th-century date, while the other two are 18th-century. At the centre on the first floor is a circa late 18th-century 16-pane hornless sash, above which is a mid-20th-century large-paned casement flanked by two 18th-century Diocletian windows. On the ground floor are two adjacent round-headed doorways at the centre; the left-hand one is blocked, the right-hand one has a late 18th-century fielded six-panel door.

The rear elevation of the rear range retains late 18th-century hornless sashes, some paired. At the far end is the ruined wing, its walls considerably reduced in height, with the decorative 17th-century plasterwork mentioned in the original list description completely disappeared.

Internally, the house appears to have been completely remodelled in the late 18th century and exhibits numerous six-panelled doors and panelled shutters. In the front entrance hall is an acanthus leaf cornice which appears original, though the present owner believes it was executed within living memory. A central ceiling rose also survives. An open well late 18th-century staircase in the rear range features an open string, column newels and stick balusters.

Alston was built as one of the most important houses in the area, its status reflected in its unusually early use of brick. Recent partial rebuilding and the lack of internal features in the front range prevent the house from meriting a higher grade, but do not diminish its inherent historic interest.