Great Rissington Manor

Great Rissington Manor is a former farmhouse, now a manor house, dating to the mid-17th and late-17th centuries, likely built in two phases. It was extended and restored by the Marling family in 1929. The building is constructed of limestone rubble with dressed stone quoins, and has a stone slate roof with ashlar stacks. It has an ‘L’ shape, with a south wing added around 1929, and a north wing, initially a range of farm buildings including a barn (now converted), built around 1929.

The main facade features a gable at the centre, with a range dating from the later 17th century to the left. A projecting gable of the early 20th century south wing is to the left, and a converted barn projects forward to the right. The building is mostly two storeys and has an attic. Original windows feature single-light, three-light and four-light stone-mullioned casements with stopped hoods, while later windows in the north and south ranges are stone-mullioned and of 20th-century date. All windows have leaded panes, most with stopped hoods. An early 20th-century plank door with studded fillets is set within a roll-moulded four-centred arched surround.

The garden front has a cross-gabled west wing projecting forward at the centre. A small two-storey turret with a pyramidal roof sits in the angle between the main body and the north range. A three-bay open-fronted store with rubble-built cylindrical columns is located on the return northern range. The rooflines are varied. Axial and gable-end stacks have moulded cappings and skirtings, and one stack to the south range is triple and diagonally set. The gable copings are saddleback, with kneelers and pierced pointed finials on the main body and south range. Lead guttering is likely from the early 20th-century restoration, with rainwater heads decorated with a single leaping fish or a castellated tower, one bearing the initials ‘M.H.M.’ (Marling).

The interior was restored in 1929 and features two original Tudor-arched fireplaces with restored herringbone tiling, and a matching early 20th-century stone fireplace. Several probably original flat-chamfered basket-headed stone fireplace surrounds are found in the bedrooms, alongside one Tudor-arched fireplace with a roll-moulded surround. A small area of 17th-century wall painting (approximately 5m x 1m) is in an upstairs bedroom. This painting imitates wood panelling, with a yellow background depicting four panels, each with a central lozenge, and imitation wooden peg fixings. Painted nulling forms a frieze at the top of the panelling, which was likely more extensive. The staircase dates from the early 20th century.