The Old Manor House

The Old Manor House is a house incorporating a 16th-century core, with 19th and 20th-century additions. It is constructed of timber framing with reused stone, a mixture of gritstone and limestone, and has a 20th-century pantile roof with stone slates to the eaves. The original 16th-century range consists of three bays aligned north-south, with a single-bay wing projecting eastwards. The remaining portion of the building is 20th century and is not of special architectural interest. A 20th-century entrance door and window openings are present. A blocked doorway is visible in the gable of the projecting wing.

Inside the north-south range, substantial remnants of a timber frame are visible. Three pairs of principal posts remain; the northern pair reaches full height, featuring arched braces to a tie beam, wall plate, and a stud partition at first floor level. The middle pair have a wall plate with mortice holes for a partition on the underside. The southern pair of posts has a wall plate with straight-cut chamfer stops and an inserted chimney stack. A 16th-century plaster ceiling is situated between the central and south pairs of posts, displaying four shields in relief depicting the badges of the Percy and Fawkes families. The surrounding plaster has been cut back. A blocked fireplace is found in the northwest corner of the north wing. The east wing’s ground floor contains a spine beam with cyma stops, an inserted partition, and is lined with reused oak panelling. Further oak panelling remains in the south room of the main range on the first floor, and a principal rafter truss was previously noted above this room.

The house preserves remains of a 16th-century timber-framed building of high status, evidenced by the surviving plaster ceiling. The reuse of timbering and straight-cut chamfers suggest alterations in the 17th and 18th centuries. Photographs show that by the late 19th century the house appeared as a mid-19th-century L-shaped range, divided into three cottages by the early 20th century. Extensive extensions and alterations occurred in the mid-20th century, but the internal structure has largely been preserved, seemingly due to the building’s historical association with the Gunpowder Plot.

The house’s ownership history is complex. The name ‘Percy House’ refers to the Percy family, who may have originally built the timber-framed building in the 16th century. Denis Bainbridge purchased the Percy lands in Scotton in 1588; his stepfather, Walter Pulleyn, resided at Old Hall. Denis married Edith Fawkes after 1587 and may have rebuilt or restored ‘Percy House’ for her, incorporating the Fawkes shield in the plaster ceiling. Guy Fawkes had familial connections to his mother's home in Scotton, as well as to his stepfather’s family at Old Hall.