Cothay Manor

Cothay Manor is a manor house dating back to approximately 1480. It was enlarged in the early 17th century and subsequently restored and enlarged again between 1926 and 1927. The house is constructed of red sandstone rubble, partly rendered, with Ham stone dressings and steeply pitched plain tile roofs. It features coped verges, gable ends, and external stepped stone stacks on the right and left returns, and on the rear elevation.

The building follows an “H” plan, typical of medieval open hall layouts. It includes a gabled, two-storey porch attached to the South cross wing, which contains a solar on the first floor. A North wing is present, with asymmetrical, “L”-shaped North and South wings added in the early 20th century, incorporating earlier 17th-century outbuildings.

The main block is two storeys and an attic, with a 1:1:2:1 bay arrangement. Most windows have Tudor arched heads, with the exception of those on the ground floor of the North wing. A two-light mullion window is located at the South gable end, and a lancet window is present. Other windows include a three-light mullion window with a hood mould on the North gable end’s first floor, and various four-light mullioned and transomed windows lighting the hall. The South wing has a four-light mullion window. The gabled porch features a single-light mullion window with a hood mould on its first floor and a moulded arched opening below. Crested lead guttering is on the South wing. The rear elevation of the North wing is distinguished by an unusual three-light rose window in the gable end.

The interior contains a fine collection of late 15th and early 16th-century features in the solar and hall. The hall retains an unusual survival of a high lath and plaster screen to the galley, with an unglazed four-light opening, a moulded bressumer, and a plank and muntin screen below. Early 17th-century panelling, a carved overmantel, and ornamented plasterwork can be found in the 17th-century dining room. An anti-clockwise newel staircase leads to the solar, and a later, early 18th-century dog leg staircase is located in the North wing addition.

Cothay Manor is an outstanding example of a late medieval hall house.