Listed Building record MDO9421 - Manor Farm, formerly Manor House, West Stafford

A manor house, later a farmhouse, built in the seventeenth century and remodelled by George White at some time between 1702 and 1718. The north front was remodelled in the nineteenth century. The building is built on a U-shaped plan, and has stone walls, partly covered in render, and a tiled roof. Surviving features of the interior include early 18th-century panelling, cornices and a fireplace surround.

The Manor of Stafford or Bingham's Manor. A small manor situated at the east end of the parish, with the patronage of a little chapel. In 1304 Robt Bingham held a capital messuage and 24 acres, a holding increased by his descendants. The manor house was probably much altered by the White family circa 1720, although the main part of the building is of earlier date. The chapel stood a little to the east of the ancient manor house and was called the free chapel in Bingham's Court. It has long been desecreted. According to the Sarum registers the Binghams presented the rectors from 1317-1470. <1>

The house is no longer called "Manor Farm" but "The Manor House". The owner has no knowledge of the chapel or its site. <3>

Manor Farm formerly Manor House, is of two storeys with attic and has walls of stone partly rendered in stucco and slate-covered roof. The house was built on a U-shaped plan in the 17th century and remodelled by George White between 1702 and 1718, these limiting dates being given by the arms of White impaling Baynard with inescutcheon of Baynard on the East elevation (George White married Mary (Baynard), widow of James Parkyns, Rector of Corfe, who died in 1702; Mary died in 1718). The North front was remodelled in the 19th century. <4>

Manor House. One of the most noteworthy houses in the district. <5>

'The Manor House' (name confirmed) is as described by auths <1> and <4>. No further information relating to the Chapel. <6>

<1> Shipp, W, and Hodson, J W (eds), 1863, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. 3rd edition. Volume 2, 513-4 (Monograph). SWX1269.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1903 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY 72858968) Manor Farm formerly (NAT) Manor House (NR)

<3> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 19-DEC-54 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3.1> Floyer Acland, A, Oral: Mrs A Floyer Acland (owner), Manor House, Woodsford (Verbal communication). SDO20340.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 2, 267 (Monograph). SDO149.

'(6) MANOR FARM, formerly Manor House (300 yds. E.N.E.), is of two storeys with attic and has walls of stone partly rendered in stucco and slate-covered roof. The house (Plate 152) was built on a U-shaped plan in the 17th century and remodelled by George White between 1702 and 1718, these limiting dates being given by the arms of White impaling Baynard with inescutcheon of Baynard on the E. elevation (George White married Mary (Baynard), widow of James Parkyns, Rector of Corfe, who died in 1702; Mary died in 1718). The N. front was remodelled in the 19th century.

The N. front, rendered in stucco, is divided into three bays by pilasters and finished with a parapet; the entrance porch has Roman Doric columns and entablature. The E. side is of the early 18th century; the walling of squared coursed rubble is finished with a timber cornice with carved modillions rising to a small central gable over an elaborate cartouche containing the shield-of-arms (Plate 61). The double-hung sash windows, five to each floor, have plain stone architraves except for the central ground-floor window, which replaces a doorway and has a moulded architrave. The S. elevation has a recessed centre between two wings; at the eaves is a moulded timber cornice. The central entrance has a porch of the 18th century with a second storey added to it later. To each side of the porch are round-headed windows on both floors. The wings retain a 17th-century string-course and the jambs of original windows now blocked or replaced by narrower double-hung sash windows with plain stone architraves.

Inside, the door and window openings to the hall have early 19th-century architraves; the principal rooms to the E. are lined with early 18th-century panelling. Some of the first-floor rooms have 18th-century cornices and one has also a fireplace surround and some reset panelling of the same date.'

<5> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 448 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<6> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F2 JGB 29-NOV-79 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454042 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 23 2024 3:56PM