The Old Manor House

NORTH YORKSHIRE HARROGATE 5338

SE 35 NW SCOTTON MAIN STREET (west side)

5/53 The Old Manor House (formerly listed as Guy 8.3.52 Fawkes House)

GV II

House. C19 and C20 enclosing C16 building. Timber framing with reused stone - a mixture of gritstone and limestone. C20 pantile roof with stone slates to eaves. 2 storeys. The C16 range is of 3 bays aligned north- south, with a l-bay wing at the north end, projecting east. The remainder of the building is C20 and not of special interest. C20 entrance door and fenestration. Blocked doorway left, in gable of projecting wing. Interior: the north-south range has extensive remains of a timber frame: 3 pairs of principal posts are visible, the northen pair surviving to full height, with arched braces to a tie beam, a wall plate and stud partition remaining at first floor. The middle pair have a wall plate with mortice holes for a partition on the underside; the southern pair of posts has a wallplate with straight-cut chamfer stops and an inserted chimney stack. A C16 plaster ceiling between the central and south pairs of posts has 4 shields in relief displaying the badges of the Percy and the Fawkes families; the surrounding plaster has been cut back considerably. There is a blocked fireplace in the north-west corner of the north wing. The east wing, ground floor, has a spine beam with cyma stops, an inserted partition and is lined with reused oak panelling. Further panelling remains in the south room of the main range (first floor), and above this room there is a principal rafter truss (not seen at resurvey). The house contains the remains ofa C16 timber- framed building of high status to judge from the surviving plaster ceiling. The reuse of timbering and straight-cut chamfers suggest C17 and C18 alterations, but photographs show that the external appearance by the late C19 was of a mid C19 L-shaped range; divided into 3 cottages by the early C20. The house has undergone extensive extension and alteration in the mid C20 but the internal structure has been retained, possibly because of the historical associations with the Gunpowder Plot. The history of the ownership of the house is confused. The name 'Percy House' refers to the Percy family who possibly built the timber-framed building in the C16. In 1588 Denis Bainbridge bought the Percy lands in Scotton; his stepfather, Walter Pulleyn, lived at the Old Hall. Denis married Edith Fawkes after 1587 (the death of his first wife) and may have rebuilt Percy House for her, or restored it, including the Fawkes shield in the plaster ceiling. Guy Fawkes therefore had links with his mother's home in Scotton, as well as his stepfather's family at Old Hall. North Yorkshire and Cleveland Vernacular Buildings Study Group Report No 785. 'A T Waterer, 'Records of the Parish of Farnham etc', Typescript, c1928, Harrogate Public Library.

Listing NGR: SE3260459438