Manor Farmhouse

Manor Farmhouse is a farmhouse with medieval origins, significantly altered in the 17th and 18th centuries, potentially with contributions from Nathaniel Ireson. The building is constructed of roughly cut and squared local lias stone with small, possibly Cornish, slates in diminishing courses, stone ridge between stepped coped gables, a parapet on the south side, and Roman clay double tiles on the north slope. Stone chimney stacks are present at the ends and between bays.

The farmhouse is two storeys high with attics, featuring six bays of irregular window placement on the south side. An upper string course and thin moulded coping are visible, with 2-light horizontal bar casements above. Below, bays 1 and 4 contain 18-pane sash windows with cast iron glazing bars, while bays 5 and 6 have conventional 20-pane sashes. A 20th-century glazed door fills the space between bays 4 and 5. Timber lintols are above all openings. Between bays 3 and 4 sits an external stone chimney stack with a single offset on the west side. The west gable entrance features a relocated 6-panel door set in a recess, alongside a 18th-century casement window. An outshut of 18th-century date extends from the rear, although it now has a variety of 20th-century wood and metal casement windows.

Inside, a circular stairwell is located in the west gable, with elm linings on a stone base. The west room exhibits chamfered beams and a small, cambered arched stone fireplace dating to around 1600 in the west wall, accompanied by 19th-century shutters on the windows. The dining room retains early 18th-century features, including 2-panel doors, bolection moulding and fielded-panels, an elliptical arched recess with a keystone and impost in the east wall concealing a wine cupboard, and a tall cambered arched fireplace in the south wall. Wall panels feature 18th-century paintings, depicting scenes such as Glastonbury Tor and the 1709-1755 Eddystone lighthouse, suggesting possible work by Nathaniel Ireson due to the Strangways (Lord Ilchester) connection. The kitchen’s east gable wall displays a large arched recess for a fireplace, with traces of ovens. A staircase in the outshut dates to around 1800. The west bedroom contains an early fireplace and a large mass potentially used as a bacon curing chamber in the west gable. A corner of this room also holds what appears to be an early 17th-century wardrobe with wooden pegs. The centre bedroom features an early 18th-century door and architrave with a ‘keystone’ and an overmantel to the fireplace; a corner cupboard is accessed via an early 18th-century door. The east bedroom’s east gable wall showcases an early 18th-century fireplace with an overmantel and a Regency-style cast iron hearth, flanked by two keystoned 3-centre arched doorways leading into a chamber behind the fireplace, a design element attributed to Ireson. Several partitions are constructed of plaster on reed and laths. The roof frame largely comprises collar trusses, but some are queen-post trusses. The building is thought to have been the former manor house of Charlton Adam, originally of a traditional medieval plan, and was formerly the property of the Strangways family for many years.