Details
5339
SE 08 NW
15/89
16.1.52
NORTH YORKSHIRE
RICHMONDSHIRE
CARPERBY CUM THORESBY
BEAR PARK
Bear Park
GV
II*
Manor house. C17, perhaps with earlier core. Formerly the seat of one
branch of the Metcalfe family of Wensleydale. Rubble, stone slate roof.
2 storeys, E-plan with central through-passage. 5 first-floor windows on
south elevation. Below window 3, 6-panel door and overlight in ashlar
surround with wave-moulded arris, Tudor-arched head and hood-mould. Mullion
windows, double-chamfered with a hollow on inner chamfer, and hood-moulds,
mostly renewed. To left of door, 2 bays of 3-light windows; 3-light first-
floor window above door; to right of door a 2-light window on ground floor;
then 1 bay of 4-light windows of somewhat different design; a 4-light window
on the ground floor and above it an original 5-light window. At each end,
unequal coped gables of the cross-wings, each containing an oculus with
ashlar moulded and keyed surround, that to the right with a cross saltire on
each key. The right-hand gable continues down over an outshut with a
3-light window to the ground floor. C19 ashlar stacks at ends and to right
of through-passage. Rear elevation: 2 unequal cross-wings and a porch
project forward. Central single-storey gabled porch, with on the right a
board door in ashlar quoined surround with wave-moulded arris and Tudor-
arched head, to its left a 2-light double-chamfered mullion window, and
above an oculus with moulded ashlar keyed surround. Double-chamfered
mullion windows, of 2-lights on ground floor to right of porch, and of
3-lights on first floor on both sides. On ground floor to left of porch, a
stone slab, said to be from Coverham Abbey, perhaps from the front of an
altar, richly carved with a coat of arms with the Instruments of the Passion
held by 2 small angels, flanked by the initials of Christ and the Virgin
Mary. Left cross-wing has original 3-light window on the ground floor and
4-light window on the first floor. Right return of left cross-wing: board
door in ashlar quoined moulded surround with Tudor arched head, cross-window
to staircase, 3-light window to first floor. Right cross-wing terminates
flush with house but has lower service-wing extension with external steps to
first floor and 3-light mullion window on north end, and renewed openings to
left return. Interior: in Dining Room, on high side of through-passage, C17
oak panelling with frieze, moulded first-floor beams and joists; beyond it,
in Sitting Room, perhaps originally the parlour, a small C17 or earlier
stone fireplace. In the old kitchen, at the low end, a large C17 fireplace
with chamfered segmental-arched surround with masons' marks. In angle
beside it, a circular stone staircase with below it a cavity, perhaps a
priest-hole, as the Metcalfes were Recusant. Dalesman, November 1952,
pp 370-1. VCH i, p 205
Listing NGR: SE0061388879