Elmore Court

Elmore Court is a large country house built between 1564 and 1588, with significant additions and alterations dating from the 18th century, early 19th century, and around 1869. The building is constructed of limestone ashlar with ashlar chimneys bearing moulded caps and a plain tile roof.

The house follows a central hall plan with cross-wings, rising to 2 and 3 storeys, with a large single-storey service wing to the rear.

The south front presents an accumulation of architectural features from various periods in an asymmetrical composition. At the centre are two early 18th-century segmental-headed mullioned and transomed casements, the left of which has been largely replaced by an 18th-century porch in Doric order, featuring 3 columns in a row to each side and a balustraded parapet bearing the Guise arms, with 3 narrow sashes above. To the right stands a large 16th-century mullioned and transomed octagonal bay window with 2 sashes above its parapet. Further right, the facade rises to 3 storeys with continuous drip moulds and features a large projecting octagonal-ended single-storey 18th-century bay window with 3 sashes set in segmental-headed openings with moulded architraves, topped by a parapet with urns. Above this are 2 ovolo-moulded cross windows to the second floor, with the height regularized by a continuous moulded parapet. The left portion of the south front is an early 19th-century 3-storey, 5-window rebuilding with sashes and plain banding between floors, matched by a parapet.

The east facade is similarly composed of varied elements. The earliest features include two 3-light recessed chamfered mullioned cellar windows, now blocked, and a round-arched 16th-century blocked doorway with imposts and a keyed architrave with cornice on small brackets, above which sits a rusticated panel. The remainder of the facade is primarily 18th-century, with five windows containing sashes in moulded openings on the lower two storeys and six 19th-century round-arched openings to the top storey with rusticated architraves and small-paned casements with fanlights. A very large blocked round-arched opening with moulded architrave projects from the east side of the bay, probably a garden doorway. The moulded parapet continues from the south front.

The north elevation's left half continues the facade with moulded parapet from the east, featuring 2-window fenestration across 3 storeys, all with 9-light ovolo-moulded mullioned and transomed casements except for a small-paned sash on the ground floor left. The right half dates to the 19th century, partly gabled, with mullioned and transomed windows featuring relieving arches.

The west facade is early 19th-century on the right side, with the remainder dating to around 1869 (dated on a doorway with bracketed porch hood). It presents a 3-storey, 5-window arrangement with sashes in beaded openings.

The interior retains many features from the original 16th-century house. The Great Hall, largely remodelled, contains a stone 16th-century fireplace with painted strapwork. A 16th-century bay window was re-glazed in 1853 with heraldic stained glass. The drawing room features Jacobean panelling with a continuous frieze carved with dragons and a fireplace with strapwork decoration and two shields in a heraldic chimneypiece above.

An oak staircase in a small hall on the north side dates to the late 16th century and serves 3 storeys, with large square newel posts bearing moulded finials and slanted balusters, together with brattishing to the handrail. Above the Great Hall, the Oak Room contains an elaborately carved 16th-century oak chimneypiece embellished with caryatids and 3 round-arched panels displaying the arms of the Guise and Pauncefoote families, with the Guise impaling Pauncefoote in the central panel. Another upper floor room contains a cruder 16th-century chimneypiece carved with a figure of Father Time in a circular recess.

The 16th-century house was built on the site of a medieval house whose remains are said to be visible in the cellars. The land has been in the ownership of the Guise family since the 13th century. The site stands on a slight hill, making it dominant in the otherwise flat landscape.