Manor House

Manor house with probable 12th-century origins, substantially rebuilt in the late 15th and mid 16th centuries, altered in the 17th and 18th centuries, restored in the mid 19th century, and extended around 1887 by Gotch and Saunders. Constructed from squared coursed limestone and ironstone with ashlar dressings. Roofs are Collyweston slate with some 19th-century plain tiles.

The building forms an L-shaped plan with a hall and cross wing, supplemented by later additions. It rises to two storeys with attic accommodation. The main front is irregular across six bays. The leftmost bay projects as a two-storey gabled cross wing with attic. The three central bays form the original two-storey hall. Between these sections stands a three-storey gabled porch aligned with the original screens passage, featuring a small doorway with a 4-centred arch head and flanking two-stage clasping buttresses. The upper stage of the porch is ashlar-built with 3-light first and second floor stone mullion windows. The hall section to the right of the porch displays two-light stone mullion windows with 4-centred arch heads on both ground and first floors, each with transom and cusped-head lights. The bay immediately right of the hall is a later addition with one-window range of 3-light stone mullion windows to both floors. The bay left of the porch has similar 2-light windows. The cross wing to the far left contains 4-light stone mullion windows with king mullions. A two-stage buttress separates the hall from the bay to its right. The building has a chamfered plinth, ashlar gable parapets with kneelers, and ashlar stacks at ridge and end positions. The range set back to the far left dates to around 1887 in matching style, featuring 3- and 4-light stone mullion windows. A two-storey flat-roof link corridor of the same period connects the 16th-century and 19th-century wings.

The rear elevation of the 19th-century range displays three gables with 2-, 3-, and 4-light stone mullion windows. The rear elevation of the hall range serves as the entrance front, comprising a three-window range. The two windows to the right match those on the main front. The left ground-floor window is a 6-light stone mullion window with trefoil-head lights, with a similar 2-light window above. A projecting porch to the right is two storeys tall with a two-window range of 2-light stone mullion windows. The return wall of this porch contains a doorway with 4-centred arch head and roll-moulded surround, with a 3-light stone mullion window above featuring trefoil-head lights. This porch has a parapet wall with strapwork decoration and appears to incorporate re-used masonry. The elevation at right angles to the right of the porch dates to the mid 16th and 17th centuries, featuring a gable and 2-, 3-, and 4-light stone mullion windows with ashlar gable parapets and stone stacks. The 19th-century range has a plain-tile roof.

Internally, a Jacobean staircase with half landings, turned balusters, and tall newels (probably partly reconstructed in the 19th century) is present. The lower hall features spine beams and reset 17th-century panelling reportedly from Warkton Church, restored in the 19th century. The library at the far right of the main front has a fireplace with a 4-centred arch head. The Adam room to the left of the main front contains an Adam-style marble fireplace and Adam-style plaster mouldings, probably 19th-century work. The kitchen, to the rear of the 16th-century range, has a large open fireplace. The first-floor hall features three arched braced roof trusses and fragments of stained glass in windows. The room to the first floor at the far right of the main front has a fireplace with a Rococo-style overmantle and Delft tile hearth, probably reset. First-floor rooms over the kitchen and Adam room have fireplaces with 4-centred arch heads.

The present hall was probably built by Thomas Montague in the late 15th century, with the building extended by Roger Montague in the mid 16th century. It is suggested that the hall and porch roofs were raised and a gallery inserted during the 16th-century works. The manor subsequently passed to the Dukes of Buccleuch, who carried out mid 19th-century restoration and late 19th-century extensions.