Appleton Manor

Details

APPLETON WITH EATON EATON ROAD
SP4401 (East side)
Appleton
9/13 Appleton Manor
06/08/52 (Formerly listed as No.16
(Appleton Manor House)
including barn)

GV II*

Manor house, now house. c.1190-1200, of which the screens and parlour end to
right survive: late C16 porch, early C17 extension to left: remodelled and
extended to rear by Detmar Blow and Billerus for Mrs. Timpson, in 1924.
Uncoursed limestone rubble, ashlar dressings, with slate hanging at top of
gabled right bay; jettied and timber-framed first floor of porch has close
studding. Gabled stone slate roof; stone ridge and internal stacks. Late C12
plan form unclear: remodelled as L-plan in Arts and Crafts style with rear left
wing in 1924. 2 storeys and attic; 6-window range, includes gabled fronts of
right outer bay, central bay and gabled porch right of centre. Very fine late
C12 doorway has deep-moulded arch set on 3 orders of colonettes with stiff-leaf
capitals. Porch in front has early C19 nine-panelled door, with dolphin knocker,
set in moulded wood architrave: jettied first floor of late C16 porch has
wood-mullioned ovolo-moulded canted bay window supported on brackets carved in
low relief. Early C20 canted bay window with stone-mullioned lights in central
bay to left. 2-window range to left has timber lintels over central C20 door,
with early C20 casement to right: late C16/C17 two-light ovolo-moulded
cross-window to left, and similar 2-light windows above which include reused
late C16/C17 mullions to right. Late C12 roll-moulded arris to rear right corner
of parlour. Side walls and rear remodelled by Blow and Billerus, who added
similar canted bay windows and hipped roof dormers. Interior: the hall entered
through the main doorway has 2 late C12 chamfered round-arched service doorways
to the left, with roll-moulded hood moulds and a small carved head in between.
Room to right divided from hall by late C16 inserted stack: chamfered bressumer
over open fireplace with re-used roll-moulded jambs, and late C16 panelling. 2
fireplaces with chamfered bressuners to left. First floor: late C16 moulded
stone fireplace to right. Porch has stop-chamfered beams, and close-studded left
side wall with blocked 2-light ovolo-moulded wood-mullioned windows: C17 room to
left of porch has stop-chamfered beam and chamfered bressumer over fireplace.
Other interior features are by Blow and Billerus: these include some reused
early C18 panelling, doors, fireplaces and a late C17-style staircase which has
thick turned balusters and newel posts finished with roughly rounded blocks. The
late C12 part of the house makes Appleton Manor one of the oldest surviving
inhabited manor houses in Britain: "an amazing survival". (Pevsner). The late
C12 hall is defined by the roll-moulded arris to the outer wall and the
magnificent entrance and 2 service doorways at the other end. Appleton Manor was
purchased by Sir John Fettiplace in 1580 - see Church of St. Lawrence (q.v.) -
and in 1634 by Speaker Lenthall of Burford, who restored the Church at
Besselsleigh (q.v.).
(Buildings of England: Berkshire, pp.65-6; Arthur Oswald, "Appleton Manor",
Country Life, 11th June 1929, pp.670-00; V.C.H.: Berkshire, Vol.IV, p.335; M.
Wood, The English Medieval House, 1965, pp.124 and 539; 1820 drawings by Buckler
in Bodleian Library, MS Top. Berks C.49, No.24 and Ms Top.gen.a.ll, fol.2, No.5)


Listing NGR: SP4435601510

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

249510

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Wood, E, The English Medieval House, (1965), 124 339
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Berkshire, (1966), 65-6
Ditchfield, P H, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Berkshire, (1924), 335
Country Life in Country Life, (1929), 670-00

End of official list entry

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