Description
Farmhouse. Later C18, probably with earlier core. Brick with red clay tile roof; some light timber framing to rear.
PLAN: irregular L-plan, one-and-a-half storeys.
EXTERIOR: The main range runs roughly north-south, and is of one-and-a-half storeys. On the east front four shallow pilaster-like strips divide the front into three equal parts, each served by its own stack (which are irregularly placed along the range suggesting an older core). The north unit has a door and single ground and first floor windows. The centre unit has the same arrangement but the door has been bricked up, perhaps in the C19. The southernmost unit has no openings to the east and was apparently originally entered and lit by a door and windows in the gable wall. These have seen adaptation; two ground floor openings (one a part-blocked door) and one first floor window survive. The most distinctive feature of the range is its decorative brickwork; in the south gable horizontal and vertical bands of red brick surround panels of purpley-black vitrified bricks, while on the east front vitrified headers alternate with red stretchers in a chequerbond pattern. On west side of range some light timber framing visible in upper part of north end, above a single-storey outshut with tiled catslide roof. Attached to the west side of the south end of the main range is a short projecting two storey brick range lit by two ground and two first floor windows in its west gable and also a small window lighting an attic.
INTERIOR: Not inspected.
HISTORY: The visible structure, notably the brickwork, suggests an C18 date, although timber framing visible to the rear and its irregular plan form suggests that an older building may have been cased and transformed into three cottages. With a group of timber-framed barns to its south east this forms the Manor farm complex, whose origins are presumably medieval.
EVALUATION OF IMPORTANCE: Manor Farm is a substantially intact externally later C18 farmhouse, possibly with an earlier core seen in the timber-framing at the rear, and possessing attractive decorative brickwork, which is expressed in the banding, pilasters, and chequerbond at the facade and gable elevations. It was not possible to see the interior at the time of inspection, but this may retain original fabric. Farmhouses of this early date (this one possibly with an earlier core) and with this level of architectural embellishment merit listing; in this case, the farmhouse remains in its original farm setting, although the barns have not survived as completely and these are not included in the listing.
External Links
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Recommended Books
This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
Period Property Manual (New Ed)
Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)