Daneway House

Daneway House is a detached manor house of exceptional architectural importance, illustrating the evolution from medieval hall to early modern country house. The building comprises a mid-to-late 14th-century core with substantial additions dating to around 1620 and circa 1717.

The house is constructed of random rubble and coursed thin-bedded rubble limestone with ashlar chimneys and a stone slate roof. The medieval hall runs east-west and has a later inserted floor. A four-storey tower with an attic rises at the south-east corner, while a two-storey wing extends to the south-west, both additions forming a small courtyard.

The west side presents the central gable end of the medieval hall, parapet-capped with three buttresses. Four leaded timber casements with rendered lintels punctuate this elevation. A finely carved 20th-century inscription appears on the left buttress. The lower service wing to the left is constructed in two phases, the first section incorporating a small ogee-headed lancet to the upper floor, possibly reused from an oratory. Two two-light recessed chamfered mullioned casements with hoodmoulds sit to the side of the wing running right; a large timber mullioned and transomed window with leaded casements rises above.

The south front shows two additions to the hall with a court between them. The High Building, dating to around 1620, is an unusually tall four-storey cross-gabled tower featuring a moulded parapet gable to each face. Fenestration is concentrated mainly on the south and east faces, with two-plus-two-light casements to the middle floors, three-light casements to the upper floor on south and east sides and two-light to the west side, and single-light to the attic. All windows are ovolo mullioned with hoodmoulds and diagonal lead latticed casements. A relieving arch spans the lower of two main south-facing windows. Two two-light casements with a combining hoodmould sit on the ground floor below. The doorway on the west side of the High Building, approached by stone steps, and a doorway in the court screen wall to its left are identical in design: both feature moulded round arches with imposts, keystone and rusticated arch, with hoodmoulds bearing diamond shapes in the spandrels. A projecting wing to the left carries two parapet gables with cross-roll saddles; the right gable displays a deep stone lintel with slightly pointed underside to a wide doorway below, fitted with a plank door. A three-light ovolo moulded casement with hoodmould decorates the upper floor, above which sits a sundial dated 1717. Three-light and two-light casements occupy the lower and upper floors respectively below the left gable.

The east side reveals the High Building with a projecting parapet gabled stair turret at right of centre, featuring two single-light casements with hoodmoulds. A gabled addition at the end of the hall range carries a two-light casement; the chimney above has a plain cap.

The north side displays the full length of the 14th-century hall. An ogee-arched doorway to the cross-passage has a very small single-light to its left. A plain cavetto cap crowns the central ridge-mounted chimney. An upper floor level doorway with timber lintel and plank door sits in a small gable on the east side of the wing projecting forward to the right; an eaves-mounted chimney with moulded cap rises above. A small reset trefoil window sits immediately below the eaves to the left.

The interior contains several features of note. The south entrance hall has an ogee-arched doorway in the side wall formerly leading to an oratory. A chamfered pointed-arched doorway at the south end of the cross-passage opens to the main hall. The main room retains a cambered moulded beam; a central chimney stack, probably inserted in the late 16th century, interrupts the space. An arched braced collar truss divides the two east bays of the hall roof, while the truss to the west of the chimney is simpler with vertical studding infill. A pointed-arched doorway with an ancient plank door provides access to the room above the entrance hall.

The High Building contains rooms with Jacobean plaster ceilings of high quality. The main chamber, known as the Trout Room, derives its name from plastered fish above a moulded fireplace with a low pointed arch; the frieze features fleurs-de-lys alternating with rosettes. The Porch Room above has a more elaborate plaster ceiling and panelled timber porch lobby. Similar plasterwork decorates the ceiling and beams of the upper floor room.

The house was originally built as the manor house of the Clifford family. It later passed to John Hancox, who commissioned the notable High Building. Around 1900, Lord Bathurst lent the house to Ernest Gimson and the Barnsley brothers following their move from Pinbury Park, where it served as a display case for their traditionally designed furniture. In the later 20th century, it was the home of architect Oliver Hill.

Daneway House is extremely picturesque in composition and represents an important illustration of the architectural transition from the medieval hall house to the yeoman's country house. Its significance is reflected in coverage in Country Life (6th March 1909 and 4th January 1952) and in scholarly works including M. Comino's Gimson and the Barnsleys (1980), W.R. Lethaby et al.'s Ernest Gimson – His Life and Work (1924), N.M. Herbert's Bisley in the Victoria County History of Gloucestershire volume 11 (1976), and David Verey's Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds (1979).