Wightfield Manor

Wightfield Manor

Former Manor House, now a large farmhouse, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, built for the Cassey family, with early 18th-century work for John More or John Snell, and early and mid-19th-century additions for the Barnard family. Minor alterations were made in the 20th century.

The building is constructed from coursed, squared stone for the hall and porch, with random blue lias rubble elsewhere. English garden wall bond brickwork of various dates and a tiled roof complete the structure. The main block comprises six bays, standing two and two-and-a-half storeys high, originally one room deep. A three-bay, three-storey cross wing is accompanied by two projecting stair turrets and a single-storey wing on the left, with various minor additions.

The entrance front is distinguished by a plinth and iron opening lights to all windows, which are mullioned with hollow chamfers. The cross wing gable on the right features a projecting stair turret with a six-light mullion and transom window topped by a king mullion and hoodmould, with a small stair window to its right. Above is a four-light mullioned window with hoodmould, followed by a three-light mullioned window with hoodmould on the second floor, with another small stair window to the right. The gable is crow-stepped with a hipped roof to the turret. The hall block, slightly set back on the left, displays two three-light mullion and transom windows with a linked hoodmould; above are two three-light mullioned windows, all four dating from the 19th century.

A porch projects to the left of the hall block, featuring a moulded door surround with a four-centred arch, sunk spandrels bearing shields (one displaying the Cassey griffin), and a hoodmould with circular stops. The interior door is half-glazed in a moulded surround, also with a four-centred arch and sunk spandrels, flanked by bench seats resting on reset scalloped capitals. To the left of the porch is a slightly set-back canted stone bay containing a four-light mullioned window with four-centred heads to each light, under a moulded string set slightly above.

On the left, a single-storey brick wing projects from the building. Above it, within the porch, is a three-light mullioned window with a hoodmould featuring square stops and a lean-to roof. The left corner of the porch exhibits a chamfer, with four-light wooden mullion and transom windows. Above the porch are two gables, both of brick, the right one wider than the porch and extending to the left on jettied timber, with a valley between over the centre of the wooden window. A blocked window appears in the right gable, with a window in the left. A stone chimney base sits on the right of the porch roof slope against the hall, while a tall brick chimney rises between the gables.

On the right return, a projecting stair turret at the left end features two small windows and a hipped roof, with a boarded door on the right return set in a heavy timber frame. A large, stone external chimney with various vertical joints (its top rebuilt in brick) is set back from this elevation. To the right are three-light mullion and transom windows with hoodmould, above which are three-light mullioned windows with four-centred heads to each light and sunk spandrels. The top floor carries four-light wooden mullion and transom windows. A projecting low brick wing to the right contains a cellar and raised ground floor, approached by stone steps to a quarter landing on the gable, with a boarded door.

The back elevation features a brick wing on the left with a six-light casement under a cambered brick arch at ground level and a two-light casement above. The main house displays mullioned windows with four-centred heads to the lights and sunk spandrels throughout. The cross wing includes a plinth, a two-light mullioned window with hoodmould, and a single-storey porch with a slight projection. Stone wall ends carrying scalloped capitals frame two recessed orders with columns displaying scalloped capitals and semi-circular chevron-moulded arches, all surmounted by a boarded door with a flat lintel and plain parapet. To the right is a tripartite window with a four-pane sash under a cambered stone arch, extending partly into a lean-to against the right return of the cross wing, with a further lean-to beyond for a cupboard. Above is a four-light mullioned window as described below, with four-light wooden mullion and transom on the second floor. A crow-stepped gable descends to lower eaves on the right. A set-back stone wall with offset above contains an opening at its right end. Above on the left is a lateral chimney with the top rebuilt in grey brick. To the right are three-light and small casement windows under a catslide roof.

A stair turret projects on the right, with two small windows and a hipped roof, with a further window on the left return. A set-back stone wall to the right contains a 20th-century metal window infilling a former fireplace opening (itself an alteration). The ends of a two-light mullioned window to the right have been cut down to form a doorway, later blocked. Above are short lengths of moulded string course, a four-light mullioned window with hoodmould, and a blocked opening to the right. A shallow three-light casement with leaded lights sits under eaves, which have been raised or rebuilt in brick.

The interior preserves significant features. The hall once contained a cross passage, now removed, with heavy chamfered beams forming twelve compartments with pyramid stops over the passage. In the hall's left rear is an oven with a low dome, a rebate for the door, an ogee arch carved in the lintel, and a segmental stone arch over the opening with a herringbone pattern on the keystone. A lower door opening to the fire box opens into the oven. Armorial glass from the second half of the 16th century survives in a window. A corner cupboard features a panelled door with a semi-circular head and dummy keystone, shaped shelves, and a dentil cornice. A six-panel 17th-century door provides access to the cross wing.

A timber-framed wall to the left of the cross passage includes a 'Delft' tile frame to a fireplace recess in the front room, with wooden bars fixed to the underside of one beam in the room behind. An 18th-century window occupies the end wall, with another above.

The front room in the cross wing retains panelling from the first half of the 17th century. An eared surround to the fireplace features paterae above, with a moulded shelf and 'Delft' tiles framing the grate. Two panelled doors with reeded surrounds and corner paterae are surmounted by a fanlight over the rear door. Close-studded timber framing divides the next room from the rear passage, with heavy chamfered ceiling beams.

Stairs to the right cross wing and rear cross passage spiral around a mast with solid treads, faced up from ground to first floor in each case. On the first floor, 17th-century panelling decorates the porch room, which includes a wall cupboard and three-panel door. The left room over the hall retains first half 17th-century panelling; rooms originally occupying this space were later unified by a ceiling divided into six compartments by beams with heavy chamfers. The front room of the cross wing contains an ovolo-moulded stone fireplace surround, interrupted at the corners with a flat lintel.

An angle-strut truss supports the stair turret. The main roof features heavy tie-beams and principal rafters with queen struts and collar, two or three pairs of butt purlins, and a square ridge. A panel of Jacobean carved wood is set into the wall at the head of the main stairs.

The building stands on the site of an earlier house from the early 16th century, which included a porch and service wing. The hall was rebuilt later, followed by the cross wing and stairs, which incorporated stone from the Priory. Later brick alterations were made to the service end. A porch added to the rear in the 1920s is said to have been constructed from pieces of Norman stonework discovered in the grounds and embedded in later 16th-century work.