Snowshill Manor

Details

SNOWSHILL SNOWSHILL VILLAGE SP 0833-0933 12/46 Snowshill Manor (formerly listed as part of Snowshill 4.7.60 Manor with dovecote and garden buildings) - GV II* Manor house, now housing collection. C17, c1720, C19, altered 1919-23 by and for C.P. Wade; minor later alterations. Coursed, squared stone, approaching ashlar entrance front and 'Admiral': stone slate roofs. 'Z' plan, 2-room ends, 4-room centre, 2 1/2 storeys: short additional wing towards garden. Entrance front to south: plinth, half-glazed door up 3 stone steps to right of centre; 4 flush panels to bottom half door, moulded surround, large keystone, rusticated voussoirs, pediment over on acanthus consoles, with Sambach coat of arms. To right two 2-light mullion and transom windows, leaded lights, iron opening casements, moulded surround matching door. To left change in stone colour, 2 sash windows, wide glazing bars, eared surrounds, dummy keystones. Plain string course, cut by pediment. First floor 3 mullion and transom windows on right, 2 sash on left, both as below. Wooden dentil eaves cornice, hipped roof. Ashlar chimney from eaves right return, 2 diamond-set stacks, moulded cap. West elevation: right end left return of entrance front: 18-pane sash, wide glazing bars, ashlar surround, dropped keystone, on right to ground floor; blocked window above. Ashlar chimney from eaves left of centre, paired stack, moulded cap. Left return to projecting wing, boarded door under flat Tudor arch, 3-light mullioned window, iron opening light beyond, both to cellar. Above 2 blocked 2-light mullion windows; gabled dormer in roof, 2-light casement. Main wing set back on left; all windows with leaded lights and hoodmoulds. Three-light mullioned window to cellar, 3-light mullion and transom to ground floor, 4-light mullioned with king mullion above, 3-light mullioned in gable, parapet gable with cross-gablet apex. High up to left small, gabled dormer with single-light. Slightly- projecting lateral chimney on left over lower wing, ashlar, paired flues to upper part, moulded cap. On left projecting wing, in near ashlar stone: wide boarded door with flat stone lintel in end wall, single-light window each side, to cellar. Plain string course above, extending along returns. Eighteen-pane sash, with glazing bars, to ground floor, beaded arris to opening, hipped roof. Against left return 11 stone steps up to quarter landing, stone-wall balustrade on left, coped top, ball finial at foot. At top wide boarded door with flat stone lintel to ground floor, chamfered arris to opening: wall carried up on left to form porch, flat stone roof, ovolo-moulded. on bottom edge. To left plinth; all windows mullioned, with hoodmoulds. Two-light window, large buttress with offsets, two 3-light windows, square-set C19 corner buttress. Above, three 3-light windows, varying mouldings. To right wall carried up in stone gable, 3-light window, parapet gable, cross-gablet apex. Two gabled dormers to left, 2-light casements. Set back on left, with higher ground level, gable of C19 wing, plinth, tall, 2-light mullion window on left to ground floor, 3-light wooden casement to first floor, wooden lintel, 2- light similar above, parapet gable, cross-gablet apex. To right, above parapet, C20 infill with 2-light casement. To road: 1984 boarded door with moulded stone surround, off quarter landing up 6 stone steps, single iron railing. Scattered 2 and 3-light mullioned windows with hoodmoulds, some blocked. Three stone parapet gables, left with chimney. Projecting chimney to right, stone offset on left only. Parapet gable to right with further chimney. Projecting C19 wing on right, left return boarded door with 4-centred arch, all up 4 stone steps, slit and 3-light casement, timber lintels; 2-light casement in gabled dormer; 2 ridge chimneys, parapet gable. Interior: entrance hall stone paving, dado panelling, moulded cornice, 4 panel doors. Room to left, window seats, fielded panelling and shutters, carved panel over fireplace, C18 cast-iron grate, moulded cornice. Room to right entrance, dust-ledge panelling, cyma moulding to windows, ovolo to stone fireplace. Stair hall, dust-ledge panelling, plaster above, 3 chamfered ceiling beams, turned balusters to dogleg stairs, swept moulded handrail, matching dado panelling. Room in adjoining wing, fielded panelling below dado, bolection-moulded fireplace surround, cast- iron grate, fielded panel over. Two built-in C18 cupboards: panelled shutters. Great Hall, small-panel panelling (C20), wide stone fireplace with flat Tudor arch, plain chamfer; small cupboard on left at back with flue. Gallery with turned balusters forming screen: open well stairs off with plain strings, turned balusters;square newels with ornamental finials and pendants, moulded handrail. Narrow spiral stone stair to attics. Ceiling quartered, wall beams, all with wide chamfers; unchamfered exposed joists. Room beyond, similar panelling, panel wooden barrel vault (C20). First floor: fielded panel doors to entrance front, cambered ceiling (C20) to corridor. First room, right, early C18 panelling, dado rail, moulded cornice, fireplace not seen. To left, early-mid C19 fireplace surround, cast-iron grate, timber overmantel, original moulded cornice to 2 walls. Dado rail, panelled walls and moulded cornice to room over stair hall, secret door to small room beyond, C20 panelled barrel vault ceiling. Room over Great Hall, small panel panelling, stone fireplace with double ovolo moulding, cambered cross beam, ridge beam with double ogee moulding, chamfered ceiling joists, boards over. Timber-framed wall to room beyond, beam and joists similar. Attics: ovolo moulding with elaborate stop to most door frames: boarded doors. Close-studded partition between 2 attics, as truss, ladder part way up one side: entrance front queen strut and collar trusses, latter with curved feet to principals. Two pairs purlins throughout, no ridge member. Main block, including Great Hall with chamber over, appears to have been extended to the south in line during C17; c1720 section to left of entrance door and short wing behind added. Entrance door formed by reusing window surround. Purchased by C.P. Wade in 1919, and restored by him thereafter: he is said to have purchased small-panel panelling in house in Norfolk. Property given to National Trust 1951. Forms group with brewhouse, dovecote, garden buildings, wall and gatepiers, and Nos 1-4 Manor Cottages (q.v.). (Country Life, 1927, 1978, 1980; D. Verey, Gloucestershire, The Cotswolds, 1970; National Trust Guidebook, 1985)

Listing NGR: SP0967533841

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

134827

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Snowshill Manor Guide book, ()
Verey, D, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire 1 The Cotswolds, (1970)
Country Life in Country Life, (1978)
Country Life in Country Life, (1980)
Country Life in 22 October, (1927)

Other
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 16 Gloucestershire,

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