Halsway Manor

Halsway Manor is a manor house, now used as a residential centre, dating back to the 15th century. It was altered in the early 19th century, significantly enlarged and almost entirely rebuilt in the late 19th century. The house is constructed of ashlar red sandstone with Bath stone dressings, and has slate roofs with coped verges. Large external ashlar stacks are located to the left of each porch. The architect for the late 19th-century work was likely J.D. Sedding, who published plans and elevations for proposed alterations in The Building News in December 1875, which were similar to those ultimately carried out.

The layout of the house faces roughly south, comprising a great hall, a larger 19th-century block to the left, a group of smaller rooms to the right of the central porch, and another porch in the end bay to the right. The architectural style is broadly 15th century in inspiration. The house is primarily two storeys, with a facade divided into bays: 1:2:3:1:1:2:1. Most of the windows are late 19th-century additions, with the exception of those in the outer porch. The left block has two gabled sections. A two-storey crenellated bay features in the outer right bay, with cusped ogee heads to windows: a 2-light window above and a 4-light window below. To the right are 2- and 3-light windows with arched, cusped heads, a feature replicated in many of the other windows. Below are 2- and 3-light mullioned and transomed windows, all with hood moulds that function as string courses. The crenellated hall has three long 2-light mullioned and transomed windows. A crenellated porch, featuring finials and gargoyles, has a 2-light mullioned and transomed window with an arched 19th-century doorway below, and a half-glazed inner double door. To the right is a canted, full-height bay with a 6-light square-headed mullioned and transomed window; a similar 4-light window is below. Further to the right are a crenellated section with 3- and 2-light mullioned and transomed windows flanking a chimney, a ground-floor 4-light window under a hood mould, and a 20th-century cruciform window to the right. Another crenellated 2-storey porch has finials. The first floor has a 15th-century 2-light hollow-chamfered red sandstone window, with a similar window on the ground-floor return. A 15th-century roll-moulded doorway is also present.

The interior largely consists of late 19th-century work, although the small size of the rooms to the right of the hall suggests a 15th-century origin. The house contains a collection of woodwork imported in the early 20th century, including 16th-century panelling from Cocks House, Quayside, Newcastle, a fine 16th-century carved mantlepiece from Albright Hussey, Shropshire, and 17th-century panelling from Standish Hall, Lancashire. Early 20th-century plasterwork is found in the library.