Description

EAST WORLINGTON EAST WORLINGTON
SS 71 SE
8/19 East Worlington House
20.2.67
GV II*
Manor house, subsequently the parsonage, now house. Circa early or mid C16,
remodelled mid or late C17 when extended. Further late C18 extension and extensive
remodelling. Rubble and cob, rendered and colourwashed; water-reed thatch hipped
roofs, stacks with C19 brick shafts.
Plan: the original plan is uncertain, probably 3 rooms and a through- or cross-
passage. It was evidently a house of high status since the moulded arch-braced
truss towards the right-hand end suggests that there was a first floor chamber at
this end, possibly the lower end. Because there are some smoke-blackened rafters
remaining in the roof it is likely that the hall was open to the roof originally.
In circa early C17 the hall would have been floored and a lateral stack inserted at
the back. There also seems to have been a lateral stack at the back of the lower
end. There may have been some remodelling in the late C17 when the right-hand room
under the first floor chamber was given a fine plaster ceilign. In the late C18 the
whole house was remodelled again and extended by a one room plan addition at either
end creating a symmetrical front, the left-hand room was a library, and the right-
hand room an outhouse, but its front treated as part of the main facade. At the
same time 2 wings and a staircase bay were added at the rear.
Plan and description: 2 storeys, symmetrical front of 1:5:1 windows, 12-pane sash
window on first floor, exposed sash boxes, 2 similar sash windows on ground floor
and two 3-light three quarter glazed French windows. Central door opening, C18
panelled door. Hipped roof C18 ranges at rear with casements; C18 stair-bay with
sash windows.
Interior: with lower room, now a study with Gothick features including fitted
bookshelves; central hall with 2 lateral ovolo-moulded ceiling beams with 2 fillets,
keel stops; the parlour with fine plaster ceiling in 3 panels, moulded cornices,
central oval panel, late C17. Much C18 work including dado-panelling, panelled
doors, chimneypieces on first floor with cast-iron grates and a staircase; the
latter with turned newels, stick balusters and ramped toadsback handrail, of dog-leg
type.
Roof: much rebuilt C18 but with C16 arch-braced truss over the lower end of the
house, cyma and ogee moulded, no smoke-blackening, diagonal threaded ridge and
threaded purlins renewed. Over the hall-passage partition a further C16 truss with
morticed ridge, not moulded, some smoke-blackened rafters also remain. Remains of a
wooden mullioned window may be seen from inside the roof under the eaves of the rear
wall.
The manor house was mentioned in a terrier of 1727 stating: "It contains 8 under-
rooms viz; great parlour, hall, kitchen, little parlour, cellar, bottle house, and
woodhouse. All ye walles are of mudd except ye great parlour which is of stone".
Source: Hodgson Rev H J, in Chulmleigh Deanery Parochial Magazine, March-June 1927).

Listing NGR: SS7748413667

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17532013

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

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings