The Manor House, Stanton Woodhouse

The Manor House, Stanton Woodhouse

Small country house dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, with early 18th-century alterations, early 19th-century additions and alterations, and early and late 20th-century additions and alterations.

The exterior is built of ashlar gritstone to the central and southern bay, with coursed squared gritstone to the remainder, dressed with gritstone dressings and quoins. The roofs are covered in stone slate with 19th-century lapped stone copings. A 17th-century external stack stands to the south, while 19th-century twin, triple and single diamond set stone stacks rise from the side wall, ridge and gable ends. The main elevation features a deep plinth and a large ovolo moulded cornice to the northern advanced bay. The fenestration is irregular, with sections rising to two storeys, two storeys plus attics, and single storey.

The building originally followed a T-plan, later extended to an H-plan with a 17th-century addition to the north, an early 19th-century recessed addition to the south, and a large addition of 1904 to the north-west, with further 20th-century alterations to the north elevation.

The garden elevation is characterised by two advanced gabled bays, each containing a pair of glazing bar sashes in moulded early 18th-century surrounds, those to the south with projecting keystones. To the north stands a recessed bay with a 17th-century three-light recessed and chamfered mullion window. Between the advanced bays a recessed section contains a two-light recessed and cavetto moulded mullion window with pointed lights and incised spandrels to the north, with a similar four-light window to the south; both windows are probably 16th-century but were lowered in the 19th century. Beyond this, the stonework projects forward and contains a narrow window. Considerably set back to the far south stands an early 19th-century single storey addition with a central canted bay window with pointed lights and embattled parapets.

The north elevation features a basket-headed moulded arch with recessed double doors. Above the 18th-century sashes in the advanced southern bay is a central three-light cavetto moulded mullion window set in an ovolo moulded recess, with pointed lights and incised spandrels, probably 16th-century. Above, in the advanced northern bay, are two early 19th-century cavetto moulded two-light mullion windows with pointed lights and incised spandrels, with three similar examples to the central section. To the north stands a 17th-century three-light recessed and chamfered mullion window, with a similar window above in the gable of the advanced northern bay. The south elevation of the advanced southern bay contains a large central external stack with glazing bar sashes in moulded 18th-century surrounds on either side and 17th-century three-light recessed and cavetto moulded mullion windows with hoodmoulds flanking them above. The rear elevations contain a mixture of recessed and chamfered, and recessed and cavetto mullion windows with pointed lights, mostly dating from the early 19th or early 20th century. The main entrance to the north elevation is accompanied by a doorcase similar to that on the early 19th-century addition to the south.

The interior contains a central hall with a grid of large chamfered crossing beams extending across roughly three-quarters of the ceiling, possibly indicating an original screens passage to the north, and a wide early 19th-century four-centred ovolo moulded fireplace. The southern room is panelled in the 18th century but retains an original slightly cambered ovolo moulded fireplace and chamfered crossing beams to the ceiling, similar to those in the hall but with finer finish. To the west wall is a 16th-century two-light window with pointed lights. An original stone spiral staircase stands near the north-west corner of the hall; beyond it the passage extends to an early 19th-century addition room with a ribbed and coved ceiling in 'Strawberry Gothic' style. To the north lies the old kitchen, which contains a very wide fireplace with moulded jambs and a chamfered stone lintel. In the southern bedroom above, an original muntin and plank panelled wall displays 16th-century wall paintings in antique style, mostly in black and white, to the east side. A door in this room leads to a priest's hole.