Buckland Manor Hotel

Former manor house, now hotel, of complex development spanning the 17th century to the early 20th century. The building comprises a large, rambling structure of approximately 7 rooms wide, arranged in 4 parallel blocks with linking sections, rising 2 to 2½ storeys. It was substantially remodelled circa 1880 and underwent further alterations and extension between 1910 and 1913 by architect A.N. Prentice for C.T. Scott.

The building is constructed of squared, coursed stone, with the south end showing stone closer to the rock face and ashlar quoins. The roof is of stone slate. The main front is dominated by architectural variety: on the left stand 2 gabled wings with a slightly later flush infill between them, a 19th-century extension to the right end, and a projecting 20th-century porch beyond. A further 2 gabled ends follow, the second slightly set back, with a projecting gable wing at the right end. All gables feature parapets with cross-gablet saddles.

The left section up to the porch shows the first gable with alternate thick and thin courses below the eaves, while the infill displays more even thick courses with thin courses rising to the right gable. All windows have plain chamfered stone mullions with leaded lights, probably early 20th-century iron opening lights and decorative catches. Windows are fitted with tall, unbonded jambs and hoodmoulds. The plinth in the centre of the infill section contains a boarded door with chamfered arris and flat stone lintel. Either side are 2-light windows with linked hoodmoulds and a vertical joint in the stonework; a 3-light window stands to the left and a 2-light to the right, both offset towards centre. The right wall, extended in the 19th century, has a further 2-light window with bonded jambs. The first floor carries 2-light windows with hoodmoulds to 2 in the infill section linked. The gables above house a 2-light window in the centre of the infill, with a panelled chimney on the ridge to the right, and a continuous ridge linking the gables behind.

The right-hand gable end contains a plinth, two 2-light windows with hoodmoulds beneath a 3-light window set in a stone oriel with hipped stone roof. A slight set-back to the 20th-century extension on the right shows no plinth but features a 6-light window on the ground floor and 3- and 2-light windows above with linked hoodmould, with a single light window in the gable. A projecting wing has a 2-storey canted bay on its end, with a 4-light mullion-and-transom ground-floor window and similar mullion above, both with king mullion. A string marks the first floor, a plain parapet tops the structure, and a single light window sits in the gable over. A chimney rises from the eaves in the angle on the left.

Adjoining the front of the house is a churchyard wall, projecting some 2.5 metres high, constructed of alternate thick and thin courses with a stone roof in 2 courses with moulded eaves. A boarded door with timber arch under flat timber lintel stands approximately 12 metres from the house doorway, and the wall extends a further 11 metres to a buttress.

The porch itself, dating after 1923, is single-storey with a boarded door up one stone step, topped by a 3-centred arch with moulded surround and hoodmould. A moulded parapet crowns it. Above, set back, is a 3-light window without hoodmould and a further moulded parapet to the flat roof.

The interior contains a double-boarded door in 2 leaves at the back of the porch, probably of the 17th century, with studs and iron hinges and bar closer. Throughout, the interior is generally of late 19th or early 20th-century detail, except where noted. Panelled doors with original latches occur throughout. To the right of the porch are 2 lounges with walls panelled in small panels, fluted frieze, and moulded cornice. A moulded stone Tudor arch, originally with double doors, separates them; a similar arch frames the fireplace in the first room, while the second has a bolection-moulded fireplace surround. The second room exposes reused heavy beams in the ceiling with ovolo moulding and exposed joists. The dining room in the end right wing is fitted with painted panelling matching the lounges, a vine tendril cornice, and moulded plaster cornice above; it contains a wide Jacobethan fireplace. The main stairs to the left of the porch feature an open well with panelling, square newels, heavy moulded handrail and strings, and turned balusters, probably representing 17th-century work reset. The landing balustrade matches this, with dado panelling. An early 18th-century fireplace at the left end displays a pulvinated frieze with moulded edge to the shelf. On the first floor, a bedroom over the dining room has a segmental plaster ceiling and stone fireplace surround.

The roof structure of the first range to the left of the porch comprises tie-beam and collar trusses with angled struts and one pair of purlins, with no ridge piece. The front of the link to the left features a narrow queen-strut roof with trapped purlins and no collar.

Structural history shows that a medieval hall with solar end originally stood in front of the right half of the house, demolished in the late 18th or early 19th century (recorded in an old print). Two 17th-century parallel ranges on the left are linked by a later 17th-century infill; one is said to have been a barn. The house was extensively altered and enlarged circa 1880, with further alterations and extension circa 1910. Significant interior changes include the conversion of the extreme left wing from 2½ storeys to 1½ storeys internally.

The building forms a group with the adjoining church. The property has historical significance as the residence where Mrs Delany lived as a girl for a few years.