The Manor House

The Manor House is a house incorporating a probable 15th or early 16th century great hall, and a smaller, irregular manor house of the late 16th or early 17th century. The site is believed to be where William Mallet’s castle stood in the late 1060s. The two original sections were linked by a two-storey wing and extensively refurbished and extended around 1939 by Clough Williams-Ellis. The building is constructed of local lias stone with dressings in Ham stone, featuring coped verges, double-Roman tiled and tile roofs, and ornamental twisted ashlar stacks which have been restored.

The great hall is a long, single-storey building, with a skewed west end, and is thought to have originally been larger, possibly including a chapel. The south-west wall has two restored four-light stone mullioned windows with four-centred arch heads, and a gable window to the east. A wooden casement of two lights is also present. The manor house is thought to occupy the site of the medieval castle keep. The main frontage is in three parts, with the two-storey right-hand portion formerly having a second floor, and two ranges of windows. It features four-light stone mullioned windows, each with a four-centred arch head and labels, and gable ends with cast-iron rainwater heads decorated with quatrefoils. A stair turret has two two-light stone mullioned windows. The centre portion is lower than the right-hand section, with one range of windows, and a restored three and four-light stone mullioned windows. A studded door with a crude stone doorpiece is to the right of the entrance, above which is an achievement. The left-hand portion is a two-storeyed gabled break, said to have been restored. The rear of the main section has two gabled breaks, the left-hand one formerly a staircase. A range of two-light windows with three-centred arch heads and flat mullions are to the right-hand side. A projecting wing is located to the right of the main section, with a single storey and attic, and C20 dormers. One early two-light stone mullioned window is also present.

The interior of the great hall has four bays and two trusses, featuring thin scantling crucks with high collars, two purlins and plates approximately 1.3 metres above the present ground level. Windbraces are visible in the lower section of the roof. The west bays are shorter and contain a later (possibly 17th century) gallery, which may have replaced a solar. The interior of the manor house includes a kitchen in the centre, with a fireplace featuring a cambered lintel. A newel staircase is located on one side, accessed through a Tudor arch doorway, leading to a panelled early 17th century door into the drawing room. The drawing room, originally two rooms, retains early 17th century panelling and a small Tudor arch fireplace. The room above has a richly carved wooden fire surround, with consoles to Corinthian capitals and plaster overmantle reliefs. A well, formerly accessible from the ground floor drawing room, is said to link with underground chambers. All windows have iron casements and square-paned leaded lights.