Description

SEEND HIGH STREET
ST 9461
(south side)
12/306 The Manor House
(formerly listed as Seend
19.3.62 Manor House)

GV II*

Country House, 1767 for Ambrose Awdry IV, extended to north in
early C19, ashlar main range, with slate mansard roof and end
stacks, north front rendered with ashlar dressings, slate hipped
roof and west end stack. Basement, 2-storeys and attic. Fine 5-
window formal south front with high moulded plinth, ground floor
sill-band, modillion cornice and parapet. Plain 12-pane sash
windows to both floors, ground foor centre altered to French window
with steps up. Five flat dormers. Three-window end-walls with
blank windows, mouldings carried around and pediment feature on
broad stacks with three blank panels, pediment over and concave-
curved coping each side. East end wall has fine lead rainwater
heads dated 1767. East end former kitchen with moulded plinth,
moulded cornice and large c1900 four-light mullion-and-transom
south window. North range is added, probably around stair-
projection of 1767 house, of which hipped roof is visible. West
end is ashlar with 2-window range of blank windows, and panelled
chimney with ramped coping. Five-window north front has ashlar
plinth, angle piers, thin cornice and parapet and plain ashlar
surrounds to upper windows. Eight-pane sashes throughout,
tripartite to first floor centre. Render lined as ashlar above
and channel-rusticated below with arches over windows. Centre
half-glazed door with traceried fanlight in Ionic ashlar 2-column
porch with pilaster responds raised on three stone steps.
Interior: 1767 range has exceptional ground floor rooms with fine
plaster friezes and panelled doors in heavy pedimented surrounds.
Dining room to east, has large marble fireplace with pulvinated
frieze. Drawing-room, to west, has fine parti-coloured marble
fireplace with scrolled jambs. Plaster friezes to entrance hall,
first floor landing and small first floor centre room which has
Palladian tripartite surrounds to doorway and cupboards each side.
Staircase, with turned balusters, appears part of forward extension
of house c1820. Former kitchen at east end has large Tudor-arched
stone fireplace with similar Tudor-arched recesses each side,
probably all mid to late C18.
Ambrose Awdry II bought the site in 1695 and built a 'mansion
house' before 1701. Ambrose Awdry IV inherited 1761, rebuilt it
1767 and was outlawed for debt 1783. Ambrose Awdry V regained
the house in 1812 and the north front may have been added by him.
(E. Bradby, Seend A Wiltshire Village, 1981, 74, 196-7.

Listing NGR: ST9447161044

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17543845

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

• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide