Yarnton Manor and Attached Wall and Gateway

Details

YARNTON CHURCH LANE SP4711 (West side) 13/165 Yarnton Manor and attached 26/11/51 wall and gateway (Formerly listed as Manor house)

GV II*

Manor house, now college. c.1611 for Sir Thomas Spencer; south wing rebuilt, shaped gables built to front and interior remodelled in 1897 by Thomas Garner for H.R. Franklin. Squared and coursed limestone; gabled stone slate roof; moulded ashlar ridge and end stacks, Complex plan. Jacobean style. 2 storeys and attic; symmetrical 5-window range. Shaped gables with obelisk finials to centre and outer bays. Central frontespiece has early C17 four-light ovolo-moulded stone-mullioned and transomed window, and Spencer arms in cartouche set in nowy-headed panel flanked by obelisks above semi-circular arched doorway with open spendrels and fluted pilasters. Centre bay flanked by similar early C17 five-light windows, with 4-light windows to right, and late C19 4-light windows to left. Left wing has similar late C19 windows and 2-storey bow window. Rear elevation has shaped gables with obelisk finials and central late C19 studded door, and similar early C17 mullioned and transomed windows. Late C19 service range to right, of similar materials, has pierced balustrade and C16 chamfered light to rear. Interior: stone-flagged floors. Early C17 studded door set in moulded Tudor-arched architrave to hall with late C19 Jacobean-style panelling and 2 round-arched doorways to hall on left, which has late C19 panelling with early C17 cartouches and panels and finely-carved arcaded frieze with caryatids; early C17 arched ovolo-moulded fireplace, with strapwork panels and interlinked fluted frieze, and heraldic achievement set in overmantel flanked by Ionic pilasters with rosettes set in guilloche carving; C17 oval stone arches, which held busts (said to be of Roman emperors) above panelling. In front of hall is smaller room with late C19 panelled dado, and late C17 bolection-moulded fireplace with painted and gilt decoration and Ionic pilasters to dentilled cornice; De Witt painting of Dutch church interior set in pedimented overmantel with Corinthian pilasters. Rooms to left have late Cl9 Jacobean-style panelling and fireplace with overmantel. To right of hall is late C16 Tudor-arched moulded stone doorway, late C19 Jacobean-style staircase with pierced balusters, and late C19 panelling with pendants to strapwork plaster ceiling. First floor; late C19 panelling to left; bolection-panelled room to rear has late C17 painting of pastoral scene set in overmantel. Rooms to right: long gallery to front has early C17 panelling with reeded pilasters; stone ovolo-moulded fireplace with rosettes and lozenges to frieze flanked by herms; painted and gilded wood overmantel with strapwork pilasters, honeysuckle frieze and marbled panels flanking carved heraldic achievement. Late C17 bolection-panelled room and similar doors in room to rear, which has walnut-graining to panels and early C17 stone ovolo-moulded fireplace with lozenges and roundels to architrave. Early C17 panelling, with walnut-graining and fluted frieze, in room to rear right which has early C17 moulded stone fireplace with panelled pilasters, and overmantel with Ionic capitals and dentilled cornice. Stair-hall has similar late C17 grained panelling. History: used as military hospital in Civil War, after which the north and south wings (left and right) and range surrounding courtyard to rear were demolished. It was then used as a farmhouse until 1895. (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire: pp867-8; National Monuments Record)

Listing NGR: SP4769311627

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

395527

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Sherwood, J, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, (1974), 867-8

Other
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 34 Oxfordshire

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