Manor House

Manor house on Church Street in Nassington, dating from the early 16th century with 17th and 19th-century additions and alterations.

The building is constructed of squared coursed limestone with ashlar dressings and a stone slate roof. It stands two storeys with an attic, originally planned as a three-unit arrangement with a cross-passage, though it now presents an irregular double-depth footprint.

The main front is an irregular five-window range. The far right features early 16th-century four-light windows with arch-head lights and square hood moulds; the first-floor windows here are reduced in height. A similar single-light window sits on the first floor right of centre. The original entrance to the cross-passage, right of centre, is now blocked but retains a two-light stone mullion window above it. The door opening itself has a four-centred arch-head with a hood mould. Other windows on this elevation are 20th-century casements under wood lintels. A wall thickening below a window to the left of centre may have been the base of an oriel. The gable to the right contains a blocked ground-floor window with square hood mould, and a four-light stone mullion oriel window at first-floor level with canted sides, arch-head lights, and a weathered top. A two-light attic window above, set in the apex of the gable, has stone mullions, arch-head lights, and a square label stop. Adjoining to the right is a single-storey wing with attic space, fitted with 20th-century casement windows and an eaves dormer. The gable to the left of the main front has three blocked windows and one single-light window with an arch-head, also blocked, with a central 20th-century door under a wood lintel.

The rear elevation includes a central 17th-century gabled projection with a two-storey five-light canted stone mullion bay window. To the left lies the original entrance to the cross-passage, now partly blocked, featuring a segmental moulded head. To the far left a single-storey range with attics is attached to a lateral stack, with a gablet linking to the main roof. Right of centre, a recessed single bay contains a sash staircase window with glazing bars. The bay to the far right dates to the 19th century and is fitted with three-light wood mullion windows.

Internally, the centre room was originally the hall, containing intersecting roll-moulded beams. A chimney was inserted into this room in the 17th century; the fire surround is reset. The former cross-passage to the left is now subdivided. The parlour to the far right has ceiling beams similar to those in the hall and a square-head fireplace with stone surround. The east window retains hinge pins for shutters. The room to the far left has stop-chamfered spine beams and was probably the service room. A doorway in the rear wall of the former hall features chamfered stone jambs and faint traces of decoration. A 17th-century room to the rear contains a fireplace with moulded stone surround and four-centred arch-head. An early 19th-century staircase with a stick balustrade is present. The first-floor centre room has a fireplace with four-centred arch-head.

The roof structure, originally open to the first-floor rooms, dates to the early 16th century and comprises 12 bays divided by a wall rising from the cross-passage. Alternate trusses feature either collars, arch braces, clasped purlins, wind braces and struts above the collars, or tie beams and collars with struts to the principals, purlins and windbraces. The moulded and chamfered tie beams form the spine beams of the first-floor roofs. A pilaster attic floor was inserted in the late 16th century. The fifth truss from the south is a closed truss with grooved studs between the tie beam and collar.

The manor was acquired by the Ridel family in the late 15th century and subsequently passed with Apethorpe to Sir Guy Woolston. The house remained part of the Apethorpe estate until the 20th century. Ashlar gable parapets and brick and stone stacks are located at the ridge.