Mancroft Towers

Mancroft Towers is a country house commissioned in 1889 from architect George John Skipper by P.E. Back, and built between 1891 and 1893. It is constructed of red brick with machine tile roofs and features two storeys plus a dormer attic, designed in the Jacobean Revival style. The main facade faces south-west and is irregularly arranged, highlighted by a stepped gable on the left, a square entrance porch left of center, and a straight gable on the right. The brickwork includes moulded decoration sourced from the Costessey brickworks in Norwich. The windows are brick mullioned cross-casements, with the principal windows consisting of 4 to 5 lights beneath moulded pediments. The stepped gable is topped with a stack and has brick diapering. The roof is gabled with one gabled dormer, and the skyline is accented by restrained stacks.

The north-west front is more symmetrical, featuring gables on either side with 4 to 5 light cross-casements, all under pediments, and 2-light attic windows also with pediments. The internal angles are marked by crenellated two-storey towers separated by a central gable, again with cross-casements that lack pediments. The rear flank, or north-east return, is dominated by an offset four-storey crenellated tower with an attached polygonal stair turret, which is also crenellated.

Inside, the dining hall features a brick segmentally-arched fireplace on the north-east wall, adorned with a coat of arms above it, and a continuous run of timbered coving. The ceiling includes sunk quadrant-moulded bridging beams and joists, while the fireplace wall is decorated with small-frame panelling. The open well staircase has a closed string, splat balusters, a moulded handrail, and square newel posts with carved griffins, which are the Back family crest. The music room is fully panelled in large-framed early 18th-century style panelling, with a fireplace that has imbricated jambs and a cornice. There is also a Long Gallery on the first floor.