Buckland Manor House

Buckland Manor House

A country house in grounds, now operating as a hotel. Built around 1690 as a late 17th-century house in U-plan form with a roof concealed behind a parapet, as recorded in a print of 1820. Substantially modified at the end of the 19th century, around 1890, when the courtyard was filled in to create a square plan with a generous top-lit staircase, and the roof was rebuilt to a steep pitch and carried on a wood modillion cornice. Original 17th-century sashes were replaced after 1906 with casements. Constructed in coursed stone with a steep hipped slate and lead roof.

The building is two storeys with a semi-basement and attics. The east front comprises five windows. At ground and first floors are two-light casements with transoms, set in moulded architraves with cornices over keystones. The basement contains voussoired lights with timber Diocletian windows. Three pedimented dormers with plate glass sashes crown the front. Plain strings run above the basement and ground floor windows. A central pedimented portico with slender paired Doric columns stands on five Portland stone steps and covers the main door, which is set in a pointed timber arch with plain glass spandrels.

The left (north) return facing down the valley displays five windows identical to the front elevation at the first and second floors. At lower ground level are four sets of late 19th-century casements in stone ovolo-moulded jambs with a central mullion and splayed voussoir heads under a platband. A central recessed door sits behind an iron grille gate under a six-pane transom light, flanked by pilasters with a cornice above the string course. Windows are centred to blank wall areas, above which rise two large eaves stacks with heavy moulded cappings and three dormers between them. Brick stacks at the eaves sit over plain wall representing the two wings of the 17th-century house, with a slightly sunk centre unit containing two casements at three levels. A light wooden bell turret with weathervane dressed in lead is centred to the ridge.

The south-west corner contains an added flat-roofed two-storey unit of no special architectural interest. The north front displays two blocked openings near the east corner, then various casements of twelve-pane sashes across three storeys, attic, and basement levels. Steps descend to a basement door. An eaves stack similar to those on other fronts is positioned near the east end.

Interior

Two rooms retain considerable 17th-century work. The dining room to the right of the entry on the front elevation features stripped bolection-mould panelling, a modillion cornice, and a plain ceiling with a central rose. It contains a Victorian marble fireplace and shutters. The small square writing room centred to the south front retains painted bolection-mould panelling, a moulded cornice, and a decorative ceiling with a square central panel and semi-circular extensions on either side. A very fine late 18th-century door and doorcase in Adam style are inserted in the east wall, accompanied by a fireplace of similar date.

The entrance hall opens directly into the main lounge through a wide elliptical arch. It features early 20th-century oak panelling in 17th-century style, a good plaster cornice and ceiling (thought to date from the late 19th or early 20th century), an arched Victorian marble fireplace, and shutters. The staircase is a fine wide open well with formed balusters rising to a roof light. A second service stair with stick balusters lies immediately behind the main stair.

Upper floor rooms have been modified; one bedroom retains an ovolo-moulded fire surround to a cast-iron insert with glazed tiles. Some moulded cornices survive, and numerous windows retain panelled shutters, some of which are fixed. Cast-iron fireplace surrounds with glazed tiles appear in several rooms.

The building became a hotel in 1970. The panelling to the staircase hall and front door are reputed to have come from Carfax Church, Oxford, which was demolished in 1889, as did a Jacobean overmantel and pew ends used as panelling in the bar. Apart from minor modifications, particularly at bedroom level, the building remains substantially as it was left after the late 19th and early 20th-century restructuring.