The Old Manor

The Old Manor is a house dating from the early to mid 16th century, with alterations made in the 18th, 19th, and late 20th centuries. It originally adjoined and was part of the Old Rectory. The house is built of rendered stone, with a very thick front wall, and has a 2-span slate roof with gable ends. Rendered stacks are located at the gable ends of the front block, and a brick stack sits in the valley between the roof slopes.

The original layout of the house is difficult to determine due to later alterations, but its core represents a substantial house at the left end, running at a right angle to the main facade. It may have initially been two storeys with a principal first-floor chamber, or an open hall associated with a stack. In the 18th century, when the house was extended to the left (now a separate property), it was likely refronted and the roofline altered. 19th and 20th-century modifications include the addition of a kitchen at the rear right and the replacement of many windows and doors.

The front of the house is symmetrical with three windows, featuring a modern plastic double-leaf glazed front door and late 20th-century plastic pivot-hung windows in place of earlier timber casements and sash windows.

Inside, to the left of the facade and at a right angle to it, is a fine three-bay moulded arched brace roof, likely constructed from chestnut, with a heavy roll moulding. The principals have curved feet and appear to be raised crucks. Surviving features include rafters, three tiers of trenched purlins, one wind brace, and the ridge was diagonally-set. The timbers show no signs of smoke blackening. There’s no evidence of an original fireplace on the first floor. The ground-floor fireplace has been rebuilt, with a replacement lintel. A large beam (axial to the early roof) and exposed joists appear largely replaced, and the stack at the left end of the front block is likely an insertion. An intact, probably 19th-century range for cream-making is located adjacent to the rebuilt fireplace. A blocked 16th-century chamfered arched timber doorway, previously noted on the ground floor, is now positioned on the first floor.

The house was formerly the manor house and likely became the rector's residence in 1555, when William Harris of Hayne purchased the manor.