Harringworth Manor

Description

Manor house, now 2 dwellings. Late C13 origins, surviving range is probably mainly early C17 modified C19. Squared coursed limestone and limestone ashiar, with Collyweston slate roofs. Originally courtyard plan now L-shaped. 2 storeys with attic. Main front is a 5-winduw range. First floor window, to far left, is C15 two-light window with cusped ogee-head lights and hood mould. Below is a C19 casement set in a medieval square-head opening. Other windows are C19 casements under wood lintels. 2 C19/C20 doors to centre are also under wood lintels. The bay to the far left is ashlar and breaks forward slightly. Central brick stack and 2 lateral brick stacks to left and right. C19 lean-to extension to left. Rear elevation has wing breaking forward to right, with gabled roof parallel to main roof. One C17, three-light, stone mullion window, to ground floor, and similar window, with transom, to first floor. Return wall has 2 similar, 3-light, windows. There is a single-light window with stone surround, set diagonally, at the junction of the main range and the projecting wing. There is evidence that this wing continued further eastward. There is also evidence of blocked doorways in the east gable and rear well of the main range. C19 single-storey extension to rear of main range. Interior not inspected but noted as having 2 open fireplaces and a C17 staircase with moulded handrail and square newels with shaped tops. A manor was recorded an this site in 1272, William la Zouche obtained a licence to crenellate in 1387 and a map of 1630 shows buildings arranged around on inner and outer courtyard. A chapel was recorded as standing between the manor house and Church of St. John Baptist. The Manor was bought by Moses Tryon in 1617 and he may have been responsible for some of the surviving building. The house had been largely dismantled by 1719 when the Tryon family made Bulwick Hall their principal residence. (Listed Building Report)

The earliest known manor house on the site was described in 1272 as having a great hall, great chamber with a fireplace, garderobe with a fireplace, a chamber of the religious men with a fireplace; there was also a high gatehouse with a garderobe, a great kitchen, stable, granary and chapel. All were built of cut stone and roofed with stone (PRO, C. 133/2). This manor house was inherited by William la Zouche in 1299 (Cal. IPM Ed. I.III. 568) and in 1387 another William la Zouche obtained a licence to crenellate the house (Cal. Chart. (1341–1417), 307). This major building was described by Leland as 'builded castelle like' (Itinerary I, 14), and a map of 1630 (NRO) shows the outer (S.) and inner (N.) courtyards with buildings ranged along the N. and W. sides of the latter. The chapel, with a monument to George Lord Zouche who died in 1569 lay between the W. range and the church and was in ruins in 1719 (Bridges II, 320). The main residential quarters were presumably in the adjacent W. range, and the surviving cottages were the central part of the N. range and consequently would have been a subsidiary part of the house. The manor was bought by Moses Tryon, a London merchant, soon after 1617, and it was probably he who rebuilt the surviving range. The house had 13 hearths in 1673, but declined in importance after the rebuilding of Bulwick Hall in 1676, and was largely dismantled by 1719.
The existing building consists of a long range which was largely refaced and re-roofed in the early 19th century. The S. front breaks forward at the W. end where a thick, ashlar, wall of medieval date is incorporated. At this point is a ground-floor window set in a larger, medieval, opening; above is a weathered string course and an upper window of the 15th century with two cusped ogee-headed lights in a rectangular chamfered surround with a hood mould and internal hinge pins for shutters. The remainder of the S. wall was rebuilt or refaced in the early 19th century. In the E. gable are indications of a former steeply-pitched gable and a blocked first-floor external doorway; a similar blocked doorway exists in the otherwise featureless N. wall. A tall N. wing of the early 17th century has two three-light hollow-chamfered mullioned windows on the ground floor and another similar but with a transom on the upper. The W. gable has been modified and the N.W. angle shows evidence of the continuation of walls to the N. and W. Set diagonally in the angle between the range and the wing is a 17th-century single-light window of unknown purpose. Internally there are no medieval features. The W. stair has a moulded handrail and square newels with shaped tops and is 17th-century. (English Heritage 1984)

Comments

Manor house licensed 1387 and 1431 to William, Lord Zouch. Called a castle by Leland. Was moated.