The Manor House

The Manor House

This is a Grade II* listed manor house at Chipping Warden, Banbury Road, dating from the 16th century and remodelled during the 17th century (with a date of 1668 recorded on a rainwater head) and again around 1927. The building is constructed of coursed squared ironstone with coursed ironstone and limestone rubble, has a tile roof and stone stacks.

The house follows an L-plan with a double-depth main building. The 16th-century section lies to the north, with 17th-century additions to the south and a former service wing projecting to the north east.

The south front presents two storeys and an attic across six bays. A two-storey porch occupies the third bay from the right, featuring a doorway framed by Tuscan pilasters and a straight moulded entablature. The doors are 17th or 18th-century eight-panel double doors with a rectangular overlight. The rainwater head bearing the date 1668 is positioned to the left of the porch. All windows throughout display two lights with plain stone frames, original wood mullions and transoms, and leaded panes. The front is finished with a straight moulded parapet and three hipped dormers with wood casements. Coped gables with kneelers and finials complete the composition. A lower wing set back to the right extends one bay and two storeys; it features a 20th-century two-light stone-mullioned window on the ground floor and a 17th-century two-light window with wood mullion and transom on the first floor.

The west side comprises two bays, each with a 19th-century two-storey canted bay window.

The north front, said to be the original entrance, rises two storeys and an attic with four irregular bays and two gables to the right. A doorway in the second bay from the right has a wood lintel and moulded wood frame with stop-chamfered jambs; the door itself is 17th-century with ribbed and studded plank construction and bears the date 1659 inscribed inside on the hinge. To the right is a small two-light window with wood lintel and original wood mullion. To the left stands a six-light window with wood lintel and original moulded wood mullions and transom. A small tower occupies the left bay, rising two storeys with a 20th-century wood casement window on both floors and a straight parapet. The second bay from left of the first floor contains a four-light window with wood lintel and original wood mullions and transom. A three-light window with original wood mullions, transom, and wood lintel sits above the entrance. Two small 20th-century mezzanine windows appear in the right bay between first floor and attic, with further 20th-century attic windows in the right bay and second bay from the right. The main entrance was formed on the east side of the house around 1927. The service wing to the left of the north front comprises two storeys and four bays; it is said formerly to have had an arch opening to a stable yard in its centre, now blocked and filled by a 20th-century stone-mullioned window. Four-light stone-mullioned windows flank this opening on either side. The first floor features two- and three-light windows with plain stone lintels, wood mullions, and old iron casements.

The interior contains significant decorative features. Rooms on the south side display decorative plasterwork and joinery dating from around 1670–80. The Drawing Room features wood-panelled walls and a fireplace framed by plain pilasters, a frieze with a blank rectangular tablet, and a panelled overmantel. The Study has panelled walls and a carved wooden fireplace with a frieze of bay leaves; its overmantel carries a large oval wreath of fruit and flowers, a motif repeated in the plasterwork ceiling, which is divided into four sections by cross-beams, each section containing an oval wreath. The beams are decorated with anthemion and palmette patterns. The Small Drawing Room contains re-used 16th- and 17th-century panelling and a carved wooden overmantel of around 1680 with a broken pediment.

The former gallery on the first floor, originally five bays, is now partitioned into two bedrooms. The main bedroom features a carved wooden fireplace with an overmantel framed by pilasters with pendants of fruit; the ceiling has cross-beams decorated with anthemion patterns and rosettes and a frieze of drapery swags and fruit. The adjoining bedroom has a similar frieze and ceiling and a carved wooden fireplace framed by volutes and swags of fruit, with a frieze of laurel leaves and an altered overmantel with pilasters; its walls are panelled with beaded mouldings. A small bedroom contains re-used early 17th-century panelling and an overmantel with a 17th-century painting on canvas depicting horsemen in a landscape.

An early 17th-century dog-leg staircase has flat balusters carved on each side with medallions, a wide moulded handrail, and panelled newel posts with lantern-shaped finials. A secondary staircase of around 1670 has turned balusters and newels with ball finials.

Historically, the manor was purchased in 1619 from the Griffin family by Sir Richard Saltonstall. His grandson, also named Richard (died 1688), likely undertook the 17th-century additions. In the early 18th century, the property passed by marriage to Francis North, the first Earl of Guildford.