Wayford Manor House

WAYFORD CP PARK LANE (South side) ST40NW Wayford Manor House 5/77

4.2.58

GV I

Manor House. Possibly incorporating medieval fragments; rebuilt c1600 by charles Daubeney probably with William Arnold as master mason, but north wing completed by Sir Ernest George cl900. Ham stone ashlar. parts rendered; stone slate roofs with moulded coped gables; stone chimney stacks, 'E'-plan; 2 storeys with attics; west elevation of 5 bays, of which bays 1 and 5 are large projections and bay 3 a lesser projection of 2 storeys with hipped roof. Plinth, string course; hollow-chamfered mullioned windows in wave-mould recesses, on the end gables of bays 1 and 5 all 4-light except lower bay 1, which has pairs of 3-light sharing a label; to bays 2 and 4 are pairs of 3-light transomed windows to ground floor - some lights blind in bay 2 - and 4-light above; The porch has a 4-light above, and the entrance is marked by an arcade of 3 semi-cicular arches with Tuscan columns and lozenge decoration; remarkably similar to Cransorne Manor (Dorset, 1609), screening a cambered arched doorway flanked by shell niches; above the arcade a band of lozenge entablature. then a coat of arms - presumably Daubeney - in a frame with egg-and-dart moulding: high in the gable of bay I a sundial inscribed with initials (?JHB) and date 1901: the then owner being L Ingham Baker. The south elevation much less formal, of four bays, of which bay 3 is a hipped projection and bay 4 the tall gable of the crossing:bay 1 has 3-light windows, the lower with transome, and this is repeated to bay 2 ground floor only; bay 3 has a 4-light transomed window at mezzanine level, and bay 4 also has 4-light windows, of which the attic window is also transoned, but projecting from the ground floor of this bay is a flat roofed wing with composite window and door unit and then a 3-arch arcade matching the front porch, facing westward; this presumably of c1900, Interior not accessible, but reported is a remodelled interior retaining a ribbed plaster ceiling in the library, below which is a fine chimneypiece dated 1602 which features pairs of Corinthian columns carrying an overmantel with typical Renaissance panel and decoration, with a similar ceiling to the smallar solar, possibly a medieval room. Much of the remaining work, including the staircase, is careful restoration work by Sir Ernest George, As well as comparisons with Cranborne, much detail is reminiscent of Montacute House, (qv) also attributed to William Arnold, (Oswald, A, Wayford Manor, Somerset,Vol IV, County Life September 29th 1934; Pevsner, N, Buildings of England, South and West Somerset, 1958; VCH Somerset, Vol IV, 1978,pp69-70).

Listing NGR: ST4046006627