Description

SX 86 SW LITTLEHEMPSTON

5/50 The Old Manor including
barn adjoining south and
courtyard walls attached
11.2.52 to south east

- I

Small medieval manor house, probably built by Sir John Stretch and taken over by
Canonsleigh Priory in C15. Since 1921 a private house. Circa late C14,
restored C20. Stone rubble with scantle slate and thatched roofs with gabled
ends. Quadrangular on plan with hall on south-east side with dairy and kitchen
wings, and a wash-house and bakehouse or brewhouse range built around a small
inner court. To the south-east in front of the hall a walled outer yard with a
barn on the south-west side. The hall range has a two-centred chamfered granite
arch doorway to the screens passage to the left of the hall. Restored hall
window to right with mullions and transom and four-centred arch lights, and a
narow slit window to side. The lower end is two-storeyed and has small cham-
fered wooden mullion two and three-light windows with leaded panes. The hall
window on the north west side facing the inner court is circa early C16, cross
mullioned and transomed with cinquefoil lights. Similar C15 untransomed window
to right above screen passage which has a flat-headed inner doorway. The former
bakehouse or brewhouse range on the north-west side of the court has a wooden
four-centred arch doorframe. Many of the windows have been replaced in C20 with
chamfered wooden mullioned frames with leaded panes. Stone rubble chimney
stacks with set-offs and slate caps at gable ends of hall range and over
kitchen. Interior: two-bay open hall with arched brace roof. The hall walls
retain much of their early plaster and on the dias wall a fresco of the Resur-
rection circa 1450-1500. The fireplace beneath is a C20 insertion and there was
originally a central hearth. The plank and muntin screen at the opposite end of
the hall to screens passage has timber studding above with plastered infill. At
the north-west corner of the hall a stone four-centred arch doorway to a stone
newel stair lit by loops to the inner court and hall and leading to the former
solar. On the south-west side of the screens passage are two arched doorways,
one to the buttery, the other leading to the room above. Lean-to building
adjoining east of hall probably originally a store. Barn adjoining south-west
circa C15/C16 with thatched half-hipped roof, the roof trusses not original,
central doorway with massive wooden doorframe with elliptical chamfered arch.
The barn now has C20 garage doors on the south-east end. Including tall stone
rubble walls forming the other two sides of the forecourt to the south-east of
the hall, formerly a yard, now a garden.
Reference: Country Life, volume 74, page 120.

Listing NGR: SX8079763280

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17526965

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)