Description

HIMBLETON CP SHELL SO 95 NE 7/171 (19/8) Shell Manor (formerly listed as Shell Manor 29.12.52 Farmhouse and gate piers) GV II*

Farmhouse, now house. Mid-C15, partly rebuilt c1600 with late C17 and C18 additions; restored 1961-2. Timber-framed with painted brick and rendered infill on lias limestone rubble plinth; plain tiled roofs. H-plan; central hall of two framed bays aligned north-west/south-east with cross-passage and porch wing; north-west solar wing of three framed bays and south-east service wing of two framed bays; the solar wing is the only surviving medieval part and has an external sandstone chimney, formerly with small gabled lancets at the corners of a short brick stack; during C16 it was surmounted by two diagonal brick shafts with oversailing cap courses inter- laced with tiles; the hall and service wing were rebuilt c1600, the hall with a rear stack, and the service wing with a side external lias limestone rubble chimney with three star-shaped shafts (though both serve only two fireplaces); late in C17 the service wing was extended by two framed bays and a C18 brick stable block was built at the rear gable end. Two storeys and attics. Framing: close-set studding throughout with some short straight braces in the upper corners; the porch wing has a jettied upper level on consoles; collar and tie-beam trusses, the solar wing has close-set studding above and below the collar, the service wing has decorative herringbone and lattice panels. South-west front elevation: C20 windows, mainly ovolo- moulded mullioned and transomed type; hall has a ground- and first-floor 4-light window; porch entrance has a moulded architrave and C17 door within; solar gable end has a 3-light window on both floors, the ground-floor window has side lights; the service gable end has a 4-light window on both floors and an attic light; continuous plank weatherings at first floor and attic level. Interior: reported as having particularly interesting features in solar wing, notably roof which has a massive open truss with cambered tie-beam, and relatively slender intermediate arch-braced trusses and also wind-braces which meet in a series of pointed arches above the purlins; the ground floor is divided into former parlour and ante-chamber by a partition with a 4- centred arched doorway. In the hall a former stair led up to the first floor of the solar, the doorway still being identified by a 4-centred arched lintel. Stone fireplaces are chamfered and have massive stone lintels; the solar chimney has the flue of the lower fireplace rising outside that of the upper fireplace. (F W B with Mary Charles, Conservation of Timber Buildings, 1984, p 137-147; VCH 3 (ii), p 391; BoE, p 59-60 and 156).

Listing NGR: SO9505659823

External Links

• Wikidata Q17548294

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Recommended Books

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House