Thorpe Malsor Hall

Thorpe Malsor Hall, originally known as Kanor House, is a large country house dating back to the early 17th century. It was refenestrated in the 18th century, significantly remodelled in 1817 to the south front, and later altered in the 19th century. The house is constructed of ironstone ashlar with limestone dressings, and has stone slate and Welsh slate roofs. Notable features include chamfered plinths, coped gables with finials, and three grouped stone ridge stacks topped with octagonal cast iron pots.

The house is arranged over two storeys plus attics, with a five-bay by seven-bay E-plan layout. The symmetrical east front has a central, two-storey gabled porch with an 18th-century ashlar doorcase and a 19th-century eight-panel door. The ground floor windows are mostly 6/9 sash windows, with additional 6/6 sashes on either side of the porch. Above are a range of eight 6/6 sashes, and in the gables, four hipped dormers flanked by single 6/6 sashes. All the sashes have projecting surrounds. The symmetrical south front features moulded eaves and a central, two-storey, parapeted bow window with three full-height 6/6 sashes. Above the central window is a crest and the date ‘1817’.

The north side is irregular, with a mid-19th-century parapeted addition and a two-storey, two-bay addition with a hipped end to the west. The fenestration here is irregular, with 19th-century wooden cross-mullioned casements and glazing bar sashes. The rear of the house has a recessed two-bay centre with a moulded cornice, flanked to the left by a two-bay double-gabled wing with early 19th-century doors and windows. To the right is a hipped, two-storey addition and a gabled wing with glazing bar sashes and blank panels.

The interior, remodelled in the early and mid-19th century, includes a flagged central hall with a cantilevered stone winder stair featuring a wrought iron balustrade and scrolled ramped handrail. Ground floor rooms have simple marble fireplaces and five-panel doors.

Thorpe Malsor Hall has historical significance—the Manor and Rectory were bought in 1622 by John Maunsell of Chicheley, Buckinghamshire, and has remained in the hands of the Maunsell family ever since.