Details
SJ 5224-5324 MORETON CORBET C.P. PRESTON BROCKHURST
14/71 The Old Manor House
28.10.60 (formerly listed
as Old Manor
including terrace
wall and gate-piers)
GV I
Shown on O.S. map as Preston Hall.
Small country house. Circa 1650, for Mr Wingfield of Shrewsbury, with
addition of c.1700. Yellow/grey sandstone ashlar; graded slate roof.
Shallow E-plan with addition at rear. 2 storeys and attic over basement.
Chamfered plinth, 2 dripmoulds, and parapeted gables with moulded copings.
Pair of stone ridge stacks and integral lateral stone stack to left,
each consisting of 3 square shafts with moulded bases and cornices,
and external stone stack in angle at rear consisting of 3 circular shafts
with curious draught vents at base of each. 3 gabled bays. 5-window
front; 2-, 3- and 4-light double-chamfered stone mullioned and transomed
windows; central attic window stepped over boarded balcony door with
chamfered surround and left-hand attic window with small rectangular
window to right. Central 2-storey porch with chamfered plinth, moulded
set-forwards to first floor and parapet, and parapet with square-section
balusters and moulded rail. Nail-studded boarded door with strap hinges
and chamfered reveals, bolection surround and c.1700 stone Doric doorcase
consisting of fluted pilasters, entablature with central pendant and
breaking forward over pilasters, and broken triangular pediment with
cartouche in tympanum with carved raven. 2-bay left-hand return front
with 3-light windows. Rear: central c.1700 gabled wing. 3-bays; double-
chamfered cross windows. Moulded string course, and continuous dripstone
over first-floor windows. Interior: almost complete C17 and c.1700
fittings with some late C19 alterations. Entrance hall: late C19 fireplace
with bolection moulded surround, flanking pilasters, pulvinated frieze
with oak leaf ornament, dentil cornice and Elephant and Castle above;
wainscot panelling. Left-hand ground-floor room: mid- to late C17 moulded
stone fireplace (with smaller inserted C19 fireplace). Kitchen: large
open fireplace with large stone cornice. Dining room (in rear wing):
complete c.1700 fittings including bolection-moulded panelling with
dado rail and moulded cornice; bolection-moulded fireplace with pulvinated
frieze and cornice. Staircase: c.1700; 4 flights with landings around
square well; closed string, twisted balusters, ramped moulded handrail,
and large newels composed of 4 twisted balusters; ramped bolection-
moulded dado panelling with twisted half-balusters at intervals. Two
sections of former mid-C17 staircase survive; in cellar with closed
string, splat balusters, moulded grip rail, and square foot newel post
with chamfered corners and at top of c.1700 staircase with closed string,
winders and landings, splat balusters, moulded grip rail, and moulded
newel posts with pierced and globe finials. Short section of C17 staircase
to attic with splat balusters, moulded handrail, and square newel post.
C18 back staircase with landings, square newel posts, and C18 wainscot
panelling. Left-hand bedroom: C19 fireplace with moulded surround and
moulded cornice. Central bedroom: divided. C.1700 fireplace with bolection-
moulded surround and moulded cornice. Right-hand bedroom: small fireplace
with bolection-moulded surround, pulvinated frieze and moulded cornice.
Bedroom in rear wing: complete c,1700 fittings. Bolection-moulded dado
panelling with dado rail. Fireplace with bolection-moulded surround,
pulvinated frieze and moulded cornice,and pilastered overmantel with
central panel and deep entablature with pulvinated frieze and moulded
cornice. False cupboard in bathroom over stairs (cf Micklewood Farmhouse,
Longnor C.P.). Roof: collar and tie-beam trusses with queen struts
and V-struts; staggered purlins with wind braces. General internal
features included timber framed partition walls, chamfered beams with
ogee stops, and C17 and C18 boarded doors and 1700 doors with raised
and fielded panels. Richard Gough describes in his Antiquityes and
Memoryes of the Parish of Myddle (1701) how Sir Vincent Corbet had to
sell some of his lands to raise money to pay compensation to Parliament
for his support of the Royalists during the Civil War. Mr Wingfield
bought land in Preston Brockhurst and "..... pulled down the hall, and
built there a fair hall of freestone, where his son now dwelleth".
The house and land returned to the corbets in 1743. The house stands
high above the hamlet of Preston Brockhurst and forms a group with a
series of walls, gate piers and outbuildings (q.v.). Richard Gough,
Ed. D. Hey, The History of Myddle, Penguin (1981); Mrs Frances Stackhouse
Acton, The Castles and Old Mansions of Shropshire, Leake and Evans (1868),
p.53; H. E. Forrest, Some Old Shropshire Houses and their Owners, (1924),
pp.127-8; B.O.E., p.231.
Listing NGR: SJ5365124606
