Manor House, Leamington Road

Description of this historic site

The site of a manor house that was originally built during the Medieval period. Alterations were made to the building during the Post Medieval and Imperial periods. The manor house is located in Princethorpe.

Notes about this historic site

1 A roughly E-shaped building of the 16th century, altered in the 17th and 19th. Of two storeys, part timber framed in the centre of the south front and gable end of the west wing; the remainder is of brick with an old tile roof. Originally an L-shaped house, irregular windows, and two storey timber framed porch on the south side. The right gable on the north side is timber framed, with moulded beams at springing of gable and at first floor level, the beam showing a date of 1636, with a three light leaded casement window. The west wing has two bays of 19th century casement windows, with a central door. Interior: chamfered beams, large fireplace in kitchen, 17th century plain staircase, some 18th century doors.
2 Has altered little since being listed, recent garage not adjoining the house. Landscaped gardens. Central window on north side altered very recently.
3 Plans and elevations.
4 6 Archaeological observation of foundations for a new extension were carried out at Princethorpe Manor House. The stone foundations of the foreshortened late 15th/early 16th century solar range which had been partly demolished in the mid 19th-century. The solar had been constructed over an earlier, otherwise undated ditch of uncertain function.
5 Archaeological and architectural analysis of the Manor House. It was built as a late-medieval open-hall house, complete with spere truss and attached cross-wings forming a classic ‘H-plan’. It was modernised in the early-17th century.
7 Briefly used as headquarters during WW2, on 23 November 1940, for a work party from the War Office, who were charged with rapidly creating a series of decoy sites to protect the factories of Coventry and its hinterland.

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