Sutton

Sutton is a rambling manor house of the late 16th century comprising two storeys plus an attic, with an organic, picturesque composition formed by two main ranges set at right angles to each other.

The exterior is built of coursed limestone rubble with some areas of original lime render, sandstone dressings, and a slated roof showing evidence of an earlier sandstone slate roof. The building is unusually intact and unextended, retaining almost all of its original stone mullioned fenestration. The majority of windows have square heads under flat hoodmoulds with hollow chamfered jambs and mullions. The doorways feature four-centred heads and plain chamfered jambs.

The south-west end of the south front is a two-storey plus attic parlour range with two pairs of vertically aligned three-light windows and a steeply pitched slated roof with three rubble stacks—one axial and two in the gables. To the right is a three-storey projecting gabled stair outshut with three staggered two-light windows. The ridge then steps down to a lower, in-line two-storey plus attic hall range with one axial stack offset to the east end. At first floor level is a three-light window with a two-light window to the right, beneath which is an Edwardian sash with margin panes set in a yellow brick arch with dressings, and an Edwardian door with fanlight above. The south-east range returns at right angles to the hall as a two-storey plus attic range with an axial stack and a large projecting gable stack at the south-east end. Two gabled dormers rise from the wallplate, each with a two-light window. The first floor has one two-light and one three-light window with a pair of two-light windows beneath. A single-storey gabled outbuilding with a steeply pitched roof stands at the south-east end.

The north gable end displays a symmetrical arrangement of pairs of two-light windows beneath relieving arches with a centrally placed four-centred doorway and a single two-light window to the attic above, with a gable chimney. To the right is a steeply pitched single-storey lean-to returning to a blind elevation with two large stacks, one rising from the ridge and the other from the left slope. On the right side are two small vertically aligned rectangular stairlights. The east end of the north elevation has a three-light window at ground floor level with a two-light and three-light window above. To the right of the ground floor window is a lean-to slated porch containing the principal four-centred doorway, now blocked. This doorway has complexly moulded jambs with hourglass stops, sunk spandrels, and a complex projecting hoodmould above, with remains of original stucco worked to resemble ashlar around the opening.

The north elevation steps forward. The north-east side elevation has a three-light opening with a later timber casement at first floor and a two-light mullion at ground floor. The front elevation has a four-centred doorway at the left end with two two-light windows to the right, unlit at first floor level, and a gable stack. The south-west return elevation is lit only by a two-light window at first floor level. The north-west parlour range has two vertically aligned two-light windows at the east end. The south-west gable features a large projecting chimney carried on a corbel table with a three-light window at ground floor level beneath.

The floorplan suggests two complete suites of rooms articulated around a central hall, possibly arranged in a unit-system manner to accommodate two households. The historic interior retains a strong sub-medieval character. All rooms retain dressed sandstone four-centred doorways with plain chamfers and a remarkable variety of decorative stops. Large, broad chamfered and stopped ceiling beams remain throughout. A fine dog-leg timber stair dating from around 1600 survives between the parlour and hall, featuring turned oak balusters of tapering columnar form and ovolo moulded newels with acorn knopped finials leading to the attic storey. Two further stone stairs remain in the hall and south-west range. The majority of rooms have plain plastered ceilings with simple moulded verges and exposed ceiling beams with hollow stops and fillet. The fireplaces are simple throughout, many unusually featuring flat-arched plastered timber lintols. Much historic plain plasterwork survives throughout. The north-east range was floorless at the time of inspection and undergoing restoration. Two original timber doors with moulded ribs and fleur-de-lys pin hinges remain in the ground floor hall range. The house retains the original A-framed roof structure throughout.