Description

HIMBLETON CP SHELL
SO 95 NE
7/171 (19/8) Shell Manor (formerly
listed as Shell Manor
29.12.52 Farmhouse and gate piers)
GV II*

Farmhouse, now house. Mid-C15, partly rebuilt c1600 with late C17 and C18
additions; restored 1961-2. Timber-framed with painted brick and rendered
infill on lias limestone rubble plinth; plain tiled roofs. H-plan; central
hall of two framed bays aligned north-west/south-east with cross-passage
and porch wing; north-west solar wing of three framed bays and south-east
service wing of two framed bays; the solar wing is the only surviving
medieval part and has an external sandstone chimney, formerly with small
gabled lancets at the corners of a short brick stack; during C16 it was
surmounted by two diagonal brick shafts with oversailing cap courses inter-
laced with tiles; the hall and service wing were rebuilt c1600, the hall
with a rear stack, and the service wing with a side external lias limestone
rubble chimney with three star-shaped shafts (though both serve only two
fireplaces); late in C17 the service wing was extended by two framed bays
and a C18 brick stable block was built at the rear gable end. Two storeys
and attics. Framing: close-set studding throughout with some short straight
braces in the upper corners; the porch wing has a jettied upper level on
consoles; collar and tie-beam trusses, the solar wing has close-set studding
above and below the collar, the service wing has decorative herringbone
and lattice panels. South-west front elevation: C20 windows, mainly ovolo-
moulded mullioned and transomed type; hall has a ground- and first-floor
4-light window; porch entrance has a moulded architrave and C17 door within;
solar gable end has a 3-light window on both floors, the ground-floor window
has side lights; the service gable end has a 4-light window on both floors and
an attic light; continuous plank weatherings at first floor and attic level.
Interior: reported as having particularly interesting features in solar wing,
notably roof which has a massive open truss with cambered tie-beam, and
relatively slender intermediate arch-braced trusses and also wind-braces
which meet in a series of pointed arches above the purlins; the ground floor
is divided into former parlour and ante-chamber by a partition with a 4-
centred arched doorway. In the hall a former stair led up to the first floor
of the solar, the doorway still being identified by a 4-centred arched lintel.
Stone fireplaces are chamfered and have massive stone lintels; the solar
chimney has the flue of the lower fireplace rising outside that of the upper
fireplace. (F W B with Mary Charles, Conservation of Timber Buildings, 1984,
p 137-147; VCH 3 (ii), p 391; BoE, p 59-60 and 156).

Listing NGR: SO9505659823

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17548294

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)