Bear Park

5339 SE 08 NW 15/89 16.1.52

NORTH YORKSHIRE RICHMONDSHIRE CARPERBY CUM THORESBY BEAR PARK Bear Park

GV II*

Manor house. C17, perhaps with earlier core. Formerly the seat of one branch of the Metcalfe family of Wensleydale. Rubble, stone slate roof. 2 storeys, E-plan with central through-passage. 5 first-floor windows on south elevation. Below window 3, 6-panel door and overlight in ashlar surround with wave-moulded arris, Tudor-arched head and hood-mould. Mullion windows, double-chamfered with a hollow on inner chamfer, and hood-moulds, mostly renewed. To left of door, 2 bays of 3-light windows; 3-light first- floor window above door; to right of door a 2-light window on ground floor; then 1 bay of 4-light windows of somewhat different design; a 4-light window on the ground floor and above it an original 5-light window. At each end, unequal coped gables of the cross-wings, each containing an oculus with ashlar moulded and keyed surround, that to the right with a cross saltire on each key. The right-hand gable continues down over an outshut with a 3-light window to the ground floor. C19 ashlar stacks at ends and to right of through-passage. Rear elevation: 2 unequal cross-wings and a porch project forward. Central single-storey gabled porch, with on the right a board door in ashlar quoined surround with wave-moulded arris and Tudor- arched head, to its left a 2-light double-chamfered mullion window, and above an oculus with moulded ashlar keyed surround. Double-chamfered mullion windows, of 2-lights on ground floor to right of porch, and of 3-lights on first floor on both sides. On ground floor to left of porch, a stone slab, said to be from Coverham Abbey, perhaps from the front of an altar, richly carved with a coat of arms with the Instruments of the Passion held by 2 small angels, flanked by the initials of Christ and the Virgin Mary. Left cross-wing has original 3-light window on the ground floor and 4-light window on the first floor. Right return of left cross-wing: board door in ashlar quoined moulded surround with Tudor arched head, cross-window to staircase, 3-light window to first floor. Right cross-wing terminates flush with house but has lower service-wing extension with external steps to first floor and 3-light mullion window on north end, and renewed openings to left return. Interior: in Dining Room, on high side of through-passage, C17 oak panelling with frieze, moulded first-floor beams and joists; beyond it, in Sitting Room, perhaps originally the parlour, a small C17 or earlier stone fireplace. In the old kitchen, at the low end, a large C17 fireplace with chamfered segmental-arched surround with masons' marks. In angle beside it, a circular stone staircase with below it a cavity, perhaps a priest-hole, as the Metcalfes were Recusant. Dalesman, November 1952, pp 370-1. VCH i, p 205

Listing NGR: SE0061388879