Manor House

Details

SWALCLIFFE MAIN ROAD SP3737 (North side) 7/79 Manor House 08/12/55 (Formerly listed as Swalcliffe Manor) - I Rectorial manor house, now house. C13 service wing. C14: hall rebuilt in stone probably replacing earlier timber structure; solar wing added to north east; lower storey of solar vaulted. C16: hall ceiling inserted; hall partition inserted (removed at time of re-survey) fireplace added against screens passage; staircase added in north wall of hall; fireplace added in chamber above hall; kitchen wing added to north of solar wing. Later alterations: rebuilding of south-west wall of service wing; conversion of buttery and pantry to panelled parlours; C20 extension to east. Coursed regular ironstone rubble. Welsh and stone slate roofs. Stone ridge and end stacks to hall range, service wing and kitchen extension. Stone copings. Service wing, hall, solar wing, kitchen wing, C20 range. 3-unit cross passage plan. 2 storey service wing, single storey plus attic to main block. Garden front of 4 bays. Entrance to screens passage to left has 2-centred arched doorway with hood mould and head stops. Plank door. To the left a C13 lancet. To right: Bay window has slated, hipped roof; 2 buttresses against the hall wall; 2 triplets of lancets probably C20 to undercroft. Entrance to C20 range to right. Mainly 2- and 3-light stone mullions with hood moulds and label stops to attic. Service wing to left has 2 sash windows with square labels on ground floor flanking blocked doorway with hood mould and stops. First floor has sash windows. Rear: Back doorway to screens passage has fragmentary remains of arched hood mould with stops. Remaining windows to rear mainly 2- and 3-light casements some with wooden lintels. C20? lancet to west wall of kitchen range. Interior: Screens passage retains 2 original C13 pointed arched doorways which lead buttery and pantry. Service wing now 2 parlours has Corinthian columns and fireplace, possibly Edwardian. Hall to right of screens passage has large C16 fireplace with traces of wall painting above. To right of hall, undercroft of solar has 4 bays of quadripartite vaulting. Rear wall of undercroft has narrow vaulted stone passage. Kitchen wing entered from this passage. Attic: C16 stone fireplace in chamber above hall; blocked pointed arched window to exterior wall of solar uncovered at time of resurvey. Details include hollow chamfered jambs, moulded hood with stops. Medieval? wall painting in north wall of attic in roof space above solar wing discovered at time of resurvey. History: C14 and C15 work carried out under the patronage of William of Wykeham, founder of New College, Oxford. Richard de Winchcombe, master mason worked on the manor 1405-6. John Jylkes, carpenter employed by New College, worked on the hall and stables 1397-8 and chambers and chapel 1423-33. Swalcliffe manor house noted as being of particular interest as a smaller example of the manorial class, retaining much of its original C13 plan and details. (V.C.H.: Oxfordshire, vol. X, p.238; Wood-Jones, R.B. Traditional Domestic Architecture of the Banbury Region, 1963, p.22, pp.25-28; Wood, M. The English Medieval House, 1965, pp.91-2, 98, 335; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, 1974, pp.796-7)

Listing NGR: SP3780637905

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

244090

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Wood, E, The English Medieval House, (1965), 91-2 335
Salzman, L F, The Victoria History of the County of Oxford, (1972), 238
Pevsner, N, Sherwood, J, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, (1974), 796-7
Wood-Jones, R B, Traditional Domestic Architecture in the Banbury Region, (1963), 22 25-28

End of official list entry

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