Description

ICKLEFORD BEDFORD ROAD
TL 13 SE (East side)

2/41 Old Ramerick Manor
9.6.52

- II*

Manor house, now a farmhouse. Late medieval former open hall house
incorporated in later additions. C16 E crosswing; a farmhouse by 1625;
hall floored in stages in C17; late C17 NE wing (a granary on 1st
floor); W front bay, staircase wing at rear, and regular brick front to
house early C18. NW service wing has date 'RE/1829' cut over entrance.
Restored 1953-4. Presumably timber framed (suggested by record of
breaking down part of wall during seizure by Lord Cobham in 1530), NE
wing of clunch masonry with red brick dressings and independent timber
supporting structure to 1st floor granary, front of dark red brick with
some blue bricks and lighter red brick dressings, red brick to NW wing,
roughcast exterior to rear stair wing. Steep old red tile roofs, hipped
with zig-zag tile patterning to front, extending as catslide over rear
outshut, and hipped on NW wing. A large 2-storeys house about 400M to E
of main road standing at N of farmstead facing S on a site still moated
on 2 sides. Near symmetrical S front has 1st floor windows grouped
2:3:2, central 6-panels moulded door in Doric pilastered surround with
flat entablature, corresponding windows on ground floor but LH pair
replaced c.1900 by rectangular brick bay with 3 sash windows with 8/1
panes and parapet. This front has a projecting band at eaves level below
the parapet, and flush-box sash windows with flat gauged arches and 6/6
panes. Large chimney with triangular pilaster strip to RH of door.
Similar front to E end. 2-storeys and attic NE wing has gable parapets
on corbelled brick kneelers and roughcast gable triangle. Chimney
inserted in early C19 to serve farm office in base. 2-storeys NW service
wing faces W with 2 windows to each floor and inscription in blind
recess over central porch. Large internal chimney separates kitchen on S
from dairy at N connecting with lower cellar in rear outshut behind W
room of main range. Gabled stair wing projects at rear over catslide in
angle with E wing. Large rear-wall chimney to hall with gabled dormer to
each side. Interior has fine cut string staircase with 2 barley-sugar
balusters per tread, carved tread ends, swept handrail on barley-sugar
newels, outswept at foot beside hall fireplace. Jacobean oak
chimneypiece with swagged Ionic pilasters on pedestals flanking opening,
and Composite caryatides to overmantle with strapwork ornament and
perspective design in square central feature with niche in middle in
dentilled pedimented frame. Twin keyblocked segmental openings on E wall
of hall. In E wing axial beam, late C16 fireplace with 3 round-headed
niches above lintel, and clasped-purlin roof structure. House and manor
continuously owned by St. John's College Cambridge since 1520/1. (VCH
Beds II (1908)286: RCHM (1911)129: VCH (1912)21-2: Pevsner. (1977)209:
RCHM Typescript).

Listing NGR: TL1717535009

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17554824

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

• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas