West Bower Manor With Barn

West Bower Manor with Barn

This gatehouse was formerly part of a large manorial property on this site, now virtually all demolished. It subsequently became a farmhouse and is now a house. The building probably dates from two periods in the 15th century, though the core of the fabric may be even earlier. It was altered in the 17th century with additions, underwent much 19th-century rebuilding and internal rearrangement, and was restored in the late 20th century.

The construction is of local stone with freestone dressings, some render, and some remains of render. The roofs are pantile, tile and slate with brick stacks. The main block faces south and is rectangular on plan, with a 17th-century wing at right-angles to the east side and an attached barn at the rear. The style is Decorated and Perpendicular.

The most striking feature is the shafted 4-centred archway with moulded head which opens onto a former through-way, now blocked. On each inner face is a moulded 4-centred arch doorway with a plank door, one of which is studded. A 3-centred arch door opens under the centre of the archway with a plank door. On each side stands a 2-storey polygonal stair-turret with a cinqpartite slate roof, moulded strings between the turrets, and gargoyles. The left turret has 2 foiled lancets on the ground floor. The right turret has a 2-light ovolo-moulded wooden-mullioned window on the ground floor. On each face of the first floors is a 2-light mullioned and transomed window with a 3-centred head and label that continues between each window. Each light has a foiled head, blind head tracery with blank shields and foliate decoration, iron saddle and stanchion bars, and leaded lights. Some 15th-century stained glass remains in the right turret; similar glass from the left turret was removed for conservation at the time of re-survey in February 1985.

Between the turrets stand 5 large weathered stone corbels at eaves height. A 2-light stone-mullioned window with label is positioned here; each light has a foiled head and carved spandrels. On the ground floor of the inner face of each turret is a moulded 4-centred arch door opening similar to those under the archway, with plank doors, one studded.

Set back to the outer side of each turret is a single bay with 3-light casements on 2 floors with glazing bars, except to the right of the ground floor which has leaded lights. At right-angles to the right of the frontage is a lower 2-storey 17th-century addition with a reused dressed stone doorway, chamfered with a 4-centred head and a plank door, and a 20th-century oriel. To the left return is the base of a further turret with a doorway in a wooden surround with a 4-centred head. Attached garden walls, possibly remains of other parts of the manor house, adjoin the building. Attached to the rear is a 2-storeyed rubble barn with a hipped pantile roof, plank doors and 2-light casements.

The interior features a stone newel staircase in the left turret with a moulded 4-centred archway at its top. A ground floor room in the right wing contains 2 reused carved beams. A panelled archway opens onto the first floor of the right turret. A 17th-century panelled screen with turned baluster panels was dismantled for conservation at the time of re-survey. Further lesser features include 17th-century partitioning and doors.

The building is reputed to be the birthplace of Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII and mother of Edward VI. Sir John Seymour was lord of the manor.