Description

COTTISFORD MAIN STREET
SP5831 (South side)
15/7 Old Manor Farmhouse
26/11/51 (Formerly listed as Manor
House)

GV I

Manor house, now house. C13/C14, altered and enlarged in C16 and C17, Space
between the projecting wings on the west or rear filled in in C19/C20. Parlour
built to rear of hall on west in the C16. First floor hall and solar ceiled over
in C16 and roof rebuilt. C20 alterations and repairs. Coursed limestone rubble
and squared coursed limestone. Steeply pitched slate roof. Stone end and ridge
stacks. First floor hall and half-H plan originally 2 storeys plus attics and
cellar. Rear or west elevation. Irregular fenestration. 4 gabled projecting
wings. From left. Small wing to west of solar was probably garderobe and has a
C14 crested octagonal stack likely to be a vent since it does not connect to a
fireplace. Two rectangular, C14 windows, Second projecting wing is the C19/C20
infill and has a re-used C15 two-light window. Third projecting wing led from
the medieval first floor hall and has one small C15 window and now contains the
C20 staircase. Fourth wing has a 2-light restored window on first floor. Present
entrance contained in C20 lean-to. North elevation facing road. First floor has
two C15 trefoiled lancets to former solar. Above in the north gable a window of
c.1200 with 2 arched lights. South elevation. Entrance to right has C20 door
with hood. 2 renewed windows to left and 3 to first floor. Attic gable has a C18
window with small leaded lights. East elevation has four 2-light C20 imitation
wood mullioned and transomed windows. Interior. Ground floor plan of 16 hall
and C16 kitchen with C16 pariour beyond the hall. Later staircases in south-east
corner of hall and in the gabled wing between the hall and kitchen. Original C16
fireplace in hall, other fireplaces refronted. First floor. C13/C14 hall and
solar. Hall now divided by later partitions into 3 bedrooms. C16 moulded ceiling
beams relate to the insertion of the C16 roof and ceiling aver of the open hall.
Wing opening off from solar measures 5 feet 6 inches by 9 feet providing a small
closet containing the original stone trough and drain an the north wall and 2
contemporary windows of rectangular form with splayed jambs. Projection leading
off hall now contains principal stair and could have originally provided a small
service room or store but the original function is not clear. Attic has C16 roof
with straight principais rising from a tie beam and apex with a saddle mortised
to the tops of the blades and a squared ridge resting on edge in a notch cut to
receive it. Collar at intermediate level with inclined struts between tie and
collar and curved windbraces between the purlins. Trusses span 14 feet 6 inches
and the bay spacing averages 8 feet. A notable roof providing evidence of the
transitional form between raised cruck roof construction of the medieval period
and the standard forms of C17 roof construction (W-J). Window of c.1200 in north
gable has mullions rebated to receive bars for shutters and was in poor state at
time of re-survey. Old Manor Farm is noted as of particular intertest in
representing the medieval manorial plan with the hall at first floor level,
developing from precedents such as Boothby Pagnell, Lincs, and related to the
stone defensive keeps or donjons of the Norman Castle.
(Buildinqs of England: Oxfordshire: pp358-9; VCH: Oxfordshire: Vol VI, p104;
Wood-Jones, R,B.; Traditional Domestic Architecture in the Banbury Region: 1963,
plate 6C, figs 4 and 67 and pp24-5, 27, 52, 164, 233, 274; Wood, M.: The English
Medieval House: 1983, pp77, 351, 369, 384; Oxford Architectural Society Report,
84: 1938, pp52-S; Hudson-Turner (Parker Ed): Domestic Architecture in England:
1877; Blomfield, J.C,: History of Cottisford in History of the Present Deanery
of Bicester, Oxon: 1887, part 3, pp12-13 and plan; Photographs in N.M.R.)

Listing NGR: SP5892231082

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17528048

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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