Description

CRANBORNE
SU 0513

11/2 Cranborne Manor House
18.3.55

GV I

Hunting Lodge, now country house, c.1207/8, remodelled and extended 1608-1636,
further extended c.1647 and restoration 1863. C13 work for Ralph Neville on
behalf of King John; early C17 work by William Arnold for Robert Cecil, lst
earl of Salisbury; 1647 work by Captain Richard Ryder; 1863 restoration for
the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury. Partly rendered rubble and flint with ashlar
dressings and partly ashlar. Tiled and stone slated roofs. North front has
brick stacks with triple flues set diamondwise symmetrically disposed. Other
brick stacks in various locations. Original plan probably a first floor hall
and subsidiary rooms over a vaulted undercroft together with south-west corner
tower. 3 storeys with basements and attics. Original main facade to the north;
symmetrical, of 3 main bays. South front of 5 bays with an additional 2 bays to
the west. Windows are C17, mullioned and mullioned and transomed with returned
labels. North front has a porch in the form of an open loggia of 3 semicircular
arches on Doric columns. The battlements rise from a partly C13 corbel table.
To the right of the porch is a C13 double archer's loop. C13 buttresses with
C17 facing in the form of coupled classical pilasters. The south front has an
embattled parapet above a corbel table. To the centre is a C17 portico with
3 rusticated arches on Doric columns supporting a strapwork entablature. The
upper floor of the portico bears niches and a parapet with recesses containing
sculptured symbols of Libra and Virgo. C17 doorway with original plank door. To
the right of the portico is a C13 canted vice turret. The west wing has a steep
hipped roof with overhanging eaves and heavy modillions. The windows are C19
replacements.

Internally a number of rooms have C17 panelling and fireplace, some being reset.
A number of C17 stone doorways with 4-centred heads and original plank doorways
are retained. C17 vaulted undercroft. C17 screens with Doric pilasters and gallery
with arcaded panelling over. C13 vice rises the entire height of the house. Some
remnants of C13 shafted rere-arches. Various remnants of a C13 chapel in the east
end of the house. Various other C19 features, largely in a Jacobean style.

The building is extremely important both as a rare survival of early C13 domestic
architecture and as a fine early C17 country house. (RCHM, Dorset, vol V, pp 7-12,
No. 4 and Newman, J. and Pevsner, N., The Buildings of England: Dorset, 1972,
pp 17-174.)

Listing NGR: SU0531313228

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Cranborne Manor at Wikipedia
• Cranborne Manor official website
• Wikidata Q5181923

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

• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2