South Wraxall Manor, With Garden Wall to South

Details

ST 86 NW SOUTH WRAXALL -

2/170 South Wraxall Manor, with garden wall to south 13-11-62

GV I

Manor house. Early C15 for Long family, altered late C16 and C17, c1700 and restored c1900 by A.C. Martin for E. Richardson Cox. Random rubble stone, stone slate roof with stone stacks. Plan: 4- bay hall with screens passage on east side of courtyard, services now to north range with gatehouse to south. Single-storey with attic, 8-window hall range has 2-storey porch to right with moulded Tudor-arched opening with hoodmould, diagonal buttresses, 2-light Perpendicular window over and to left side, cornice with gargoyles to parapet, hall to left has 2-light Perpendicular window, large gabled stack, square bay with 3-light Perpendicular window to ground floor and square-headed window with tracery over, moulded cornice with gargoyles to parapet, late C16 gabled addition to left has two mullioned casements to cellar, large 8-light mullioned and transomed window to main floor and 3-light mullioned casement to attic, another gabled bay to left has 4-light mullioned and transomed window with 3-light attic mullioned casement, saddleback coping. To right of hall is gable end of former services with C17 mullioned casements, gatehouse range projecting to right has lateral stack, 2-light mullioned casements with cusped arched lights and one 3-light mullioned casement to first floor, early C20 elliptical archway to right, gabled dormer with 2-light mullioned casement. Throughway below gatehouse has blocked doorway and winding stairs to upper floor, south side of this range has C20 double panelled doors to gabled gatehouse, hoodmould with lozenge terminals over elliptical archway, C15 oriel window with cusped lights over, diagonal buttresses, projection on east side for stairs, early C20 square bay with mullioned casement to right. South side of former service range has buttresses with offsets, C17 three-light and 2-light mullioned casements, one pointed window with Y tracery to ground floor, rear has early C20 added 2-storey corridor with formerly open 4-bay loggia to ground floor, studded timber-framed first floor with Ionic pilasters, wood mullioned casements. Rear of hall range has square stair turret with 4-light cross window with cusped arched lights, 3-light Perpendicular window either side and square light to first floor, wing projecting to right has 12-pane sashes in moulded architraves, round-arched half-glazed door to north side and large 8-light mullioned and transomed window with hipped roof to right (lighting rear of dining room). North range has Tudor-arched doorway left of centre, blocked pointed doorway and planked door to right, lateral stack, 2-light mullioned casements with cusped arched lights and hoodmoulds, projecting stair turret to left. Left return of north range has 3-light mullioned casements with arched lights to ground and first floors, rear has C20 door to right part, now offices, 2- light mullioned casement with cusped lights to left, first floor has inserted C20 steel casement and mullioned casement, early C20 parallel kitchen range attached to left has hipped roof and mullioned casements, range continues to left with closed 2-bay loggia and 4-light mullioned and transomed casement to first floor over and to east gable end, gable end has open 4-bay loggia on Tuscan columns to ground floor. Interior: Hall has" original 4-bay open roof; arch-braced collar trusses, on carved wooden animal corbels, cusped panels between principals and purlins, stone fireplace dated 1598 with strapwork overmantel, square surround, late C16 richly-carved wooden screen at lower end has arched openings, Ionic pilasters, gallery over. Late C16 passage and stair turret to rear of hall; Perpendicular windows and buttresses retained on former external wall, C18 stairs with turned balusters and ramped handrail. Dining room at upper end of hall, former solar, added by Walter Long late C16; very fine barrel-vaulted plaster ceiling with thin ribs and pendants, extravagantly carved stone fireplace with caryatids and figures in niches with square surround, full wainscot panelling with pilasters, unusual stone canted projection opposite fireplace with three shell-headed niches. North east wing drawing room has fine late C16 stone fireplace with Ionic columns, two strapwork cartouches to overmantel with Latin inscriptions, full fielded panelling, shell-headed niche to right of fireplace, bedroom over has large stone fireplace with two tiers of coupled columns, overmantel with cartouches. South east wing has 7-bay arch-braced collar truss roof with wind braced purlins, so-called Raleigh Room on first floor with linenfold panelling and Tudor-arched fireplace, stairs to this wing from screens passage are C18 with three turned or barley-twist balusters per tread, moulded ramped handrail. Good joinery throughout; C16 moulded doorcases and wainscot doors, some C18 panelled doors in moulded architraves. Rubble stone walls with saddleback coping and two moulded Tudor-arched doorways, enclosing west side of courtyard and continuing to gate piers at south entrance (q,v.). Robert Long owned the Manor here in 1433; this building may be a C15 rebuilding of the Manor on a new site, Manor Farmhouse (q.v.) possibly representing the C14 manor house. Robert Long was M.P. for Wiltshire in mid C15, the Long family held the property until early C20. (Country Life, March 26, 1904; January 14, 1905; N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Wiltshire, 1975)

Listing NGR: ST8331265463

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

314616

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Wiltshire, (1975)
Country Life in 14 January, (1905)
Country Life in 26 March, (1904)

End of official list entry

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