History

In 1979 Barry and Dianne Humphreys purchased the Grade II listed Manor in beautiful West Wiltshire near Bath. Originally a cross passage dwelling it was extensively altered circa 1700 and faced in Ashlar, to its present Georgian style, not dissimilar to Prince Charles' house Highgrove. The whole complex was totally derelict with rain coming through the roof and squatters in residence. After sensitively renovating the main house, they carefully incorporated the old farm building and barns into an hotel, giving a large variety of rooms, individually furnished and bursting with antiques.

The manor is situated on Trowle Common (a Doomsday book site), at the time part of the Abbess of Glastonbury's estate, and constructed some 500 years ago. Originally just a typical farmhouse, it was altered to a genteel gentleman's residence in 1700 to mirror the rebuilding of Bath in a country setting. It has a classic Queen Anne facade with attic dormers, in a fully hipped stone tiled roof behind a plain parapet, over a dentil course. Tall sashes in stone architraves are sighted around an 18th century stone doorway under a semi-circular pediment on brackets, approached up steps. Window sills are carried on brackets and there are string courses over the ground floor and below the first floor windows. There is a stair turret in the North West to the attics, lit by semi-circular headed windows with keystones showing a host of re-used, worked and molded stones from window mullions etc.

In the older section of the farmhouse, what was originally a three roomed cross-passage house, the inner room still exists, initially open to the roof but always with a fireplace, which is still in use. Huge trusses are visible in the upper roof area of the house cleaved from a single tree and joined by a large tie beam. Initially wind braced, but since removed, the wind brace slots are still evident in the trusses. The whole house is listed Grade 2 and the low stone wall around the front garden is Grade 2 listed in its own right. Construction is of local limestone, mostly rubbled with an ashlar front on the Queen Anne alterations. The property had historically been a farm but has had its land holdings reduced over the years to just 4.5 acres. The Vincent family who left in 1932, lived in the house and worked the farm with their sixteen children! They are believed to have been the last to work the property completely as a farm although the chicken sheds were in full production until the mid eighties.

In March 2002 Tim Burnham took over the hotel when the Humphreys retired to Spain.

In this beautiful area of ancient woolen towns and villages, Bradford on Avon is a real gem. The town is totally built from stone with a Saxon church AD 900, a Tithe barn, with period streets and buildings. Trowbridge (3 miles away) is where stone met brick and the oak forests of the East, with a mixture of styles and some very impressive buildings and Mills.

Historic Buildings Study

From Westwood Road in 1984

Site and History

The house faces approximately southeast in the angle of the roads from Trowbridge to Bradford and from Cockhill to Westwood and is on what was once Trowle Common. The Common was enclosed in 1852. Trowle was divided into Great Trowle and Little Trowle. This house was in Great Trowle in Bradford parish. Little Trowle was to the south in Trowbridge parish and the main house was Walwayn’s Court, now a public house surrounded by a housing estate.

Trowle was an ancient tithing of Bradford-on-Avon and originally stretched into the town as far as Barton Farm and included all the built up area south of the Town Bridge. In the medieval period it was part of the Abbess of Shaftesbury’s Bradford manor. Later much of the area became part of the Hall estate.

Andrews and Dury's map of 1773 has a small image of the house labelled Dr. Gibbs. This man may have been a clergyman or else a physician. Some of the Gibbs family were clothiers at Trowbridge in the 18th century. No farmyard is shown but there is an orchard behind the house.

Local Map Circa 1810 AD

The hotel (circled in red) is at the fork in the road between Widbrook Hill and Great Trowle, just north west of Cockhill House. The wavy red line going from north to south shows the boundary between Bradford on Avon and Trowbridge.

A list at the British Library dated 1725 of householders allowed grazing on Trowle Common includes Mr Gibbs, a freeholder, who was allowed 18 beasts and 90 sheep. He was listed second of about 24 entries. The first listed was Mr James Druce who held Trowle Farm at the Wingfield end of the common, allowed 24 beasts and 20 sheep. His house was the main house in Great Trowle. Five sheep were taken to eat the equivalent of one beast so Mr Gibbs was in fact allowed the largest amount of grazing. If the Gibbs family were already at Manor Farm, this tells us that it was a freehold which would explain its appearance as a gentleman’s house. Freeholds were very few at that time. They were held under a manor and paid only a chief rent. They were largely omitted from manor records so can be more difficult to trace.

Greenwood's map of 1820 shows part of the unenclosed common along the sides of the Westwood road running up to the front garden of the house. This is also shown on the 1841 tithe map where the house is plot 885 – Farmhouse and homestead owned by William Stancomb and occupied by Samuel Bowyer. Samuel was also farming at Lady Down Farm to the northeast on the River Biss. The Stancombs of Trowbridge were clothiers in the late 18th century. In 1860 William Stancomb was lord of the manor of Trowbridge. He lived at The Limes on the site which is now Trowbridge Town Hall. The 1841 map shows the barn and other outbuildings.

Tithe map 1841

The 1841 census could be looked at to see the full household of Samuel Bowyer. In 1911 the farmer at Manor Farm, Trowle was Howard J. Vincent (Kelly’s Directory). The farm was then in Bradford Without, made a separate parish in 1894. It included as well as Trowle, Widbrook and Ladydown, the area north of the town at Bradford Leigh, Frankleigh and Cumberwell. In 1934 the various parts of Bradford Without were transferred to other parishes and Manor Farm, Trowle became part of Trowbridge. In 1939 (West Wilts Directory) the house may have been called Trowle Manor and if so it was occupied by H.L. Hewitt, J.P.

Garden Features

In front of the house there is a pedestrian gateway through a ramped ashlar stone wall. Between the field to the west and the entrance drive to the house there is a brick wall with flat buttresses and semi-circular capping bricks.

Front gate and ramped wall

Brick boundary wall

The House

It is taken as facing south in this report.

The Exterior

The façade of the west section is of ashlar stone with two stone bands. It is surmounted by a parapet. The windows are sashes with brackets. Steps lead up to the front doorway which has a moulded architrave surround of 2 flats and an ogee. Over the door is a fanlight and above the doorway there is an elliptical pediment. The roof is hipped and has two hipped dormer windows within it.

1984

1984

1984 showing hipped dormer

Scrolled bracket to porch and architrave surround to doorway, 2010

1984

At the rear there is a stair turret giving access to the attic.

Low East End

1984

The elliptical headed entrance doorway in the south wall has ogee moulding. The two-light windows have similar moulding.

This building was formerly single storey. The first floor has been made in what was formerly just the roof and is lit by two hipped dormer windows. The wall thickness by the front door is about 20-21 in. suggesting the walls of the section were rebuilt in the 18th century.

Entrance doorway, 1984

The end gable wall is of squared rubble stone.

1984 East end wall with later range to right.

Interior

Ground Floor

East low section of house.

The interior was divided into two rooms, room 1 to the east and the larger room 2 to the west. In 1984 part of the stone lintel of the old fireplace in room 2 was seen in the farmyard (photograph F275.21). It has a double hollow moulding of 16th century type. The owner had inserted a replacement timber fireplace lintel from Somerset.

The fireplace as seen in 2010 has recesses to sit in on each side, the left one with an elbow rest. The right one obscured by logs.

2010

Recess left side of old fireplace, 2010

There are mortices in the main beam which show that there was formerly a panelled ceiling. Photograph F279.6 shows the south end of the beam at the west end of room 2. The joists are wide and laid flat (F279.8). The thickened wall at the rear of the room results from recent rebuilding as the old wall was leaning.

Beam, west end of room

Joists

In 1984 the owner had imported a door frame from Mells, Somerset leading to the room north of room 1, (a Victorian extension) and a door from an outhouse at Seymour’s Court, Beckington, Somerset. Also a door to the rear of room 2 had been brought from the owner’s restaurant at Beckington.

First floor and roof

A staircase rises at the rear. At its head is the central truss of the roof (F279.10). The eaves are boxed in with heavy old vertical studs below the lower purlin. There is an end truss next to the stone gable wall (F279.9) visible in the chamber over room 1. The principal rafter of the central truss is 13½ in. wide. It is visible down to eaves level.

Central truss by stair

Chamber over room 1 with end truss

Central truss from west with lower purlin, infilled windbrace mortice and peghole for raking strut, 2010

It is likely to be a collar and tiebeam structure and there is evidence of former raking struts from the tiebeam to the principal rafters. In the 15th century these would normally be curved. The floor of the roof is just above the upper purlins. The ridgepiece is heavy and square and set diagonally. It has a little smoke-blackening. There are some original common rafters at the west end, laid flat in the plane of the roof. The common rafters were pegged through the ridge with long pegs. The joint at the apex has slightly sprung apart.

Central truss from west, East end truss

The timbers are clean (not smoke-blackened) on both sides. They are very waney. There is no evidence of former infilling which would be expected if this was the end of a timber-framed building.

East end truss

Apex of end truss

Tall west section of the house

The front wall is 24 in. thick. In this section, in 1984, brick pillars were seen between the windows and there were brick partition walls (photograph F279.1). The brickwork is likely to represent alterations.

Room 3

Doorcase and cornice

The void behind the curved cupboard next to the fireplace was seen from above during renovation.

No evidence for a cellar was found though it would be expected from the steps up to the front door. There are ventilation blocks in the front wall under the southeast room (2010).

The owner in 1984 offered a piece of the stud partition running north/south shutting off the stair area with having early wallpaper. This was shown to James Ayres, a specialist, who thought it probably dated from around 1800-1810.

The double doors leading to the stair turret are surmounted by a fanlight. The staircase has a tapering turned newel post, stick balusters and a ramped handrail. The end of the open string treads have decorative fretted brackets. The staircase roof truss has a reused north principal rafter. It is a tiebeam truss with a notched-tenoned apex and the ridge piece set on a small yoke. The top of the staircase was being rebuilt in 1984 with new turned newel posts and new balusters were to be made.

Double doors to stair

Top of stair in 1984

2010 Looking down to landing

Fretted tread ends 2010

First Floor

There is a reused beam seen in 1984 and probably taken from the earlier house. It has a deep chamfer and a step and concave stop. A wedge-shaped housing has been cut out of the former soffit.

Roof

In 1984 new pine purlins had recently been installed at the rear and in the staircase well (taken from the demolished Victoria Institute, Castle Street, Trowbridge). The (old) south purlin is re-used and so is the hip principal rafter at the north end. The roof truss at the south end has a notch-tenoned apex joint with the ridge piece set into the upper principal rafter. There was formerly a collar.

Farmyard - Barn

This is constructed of coursed small ashlar stones. The roof is slate. The plan is asymmetrical with a single long porch to the threshing bay on the north side. The gable of the porch was weather-boarded in 1984. The roof is in 4 bays. The tiebeam trusses have one row of purlins each side, cut back at the principal rafters. There is a plated yoke at the apex supporting a square ridge piece. There is a chiselled number 1 on the end truss. The wall is .45 m (18 in.) thick at the porch. There is a high pitching hole (see plan). The building probably dates from about 1800 or slightly earlier.

Attached to the barn running south in 1984 was a lofted building of brick in stretcher bond with a hipped roof. It has since been removed.

The barn has now been incorporated in a reception/dining area with a dining room attached on the south side. At the east end of the dining room a new fireplace has been constructed reusing the section of old fireplace lintel (see above) made up with matching stonework.

Brick building attached to south side of the barn in 1984

Barn as it was in 1984 from north with porch to threshing bay

North view of barn in 2010

Shelter shed south side of yard

This range, now replaced, had a hipped tiled roof. At the west end there was a shuttered window. The west wall was constructed of brick. The range was probably contemporary with the barn. It has since been rebuilt.

1984

1984

At the west end of the yard there is an iron water trough now (2010) used for plants with the moulded name B. Uncles & Sons Ltd Bradford on Avon (former Bradford iron founders in Trowbridge Road operating 1890-1935).

Pigsties

Three pens were constructed of ashlar stone but altered in brick and were in 1984 nearly gone.

Shelter shed, north side of yard

The sties had an attached shelter shed. There was a rear wall of stone, the rest being constructed of brick and breeze blocks. The front wall had one post on a padstone remaining. The roof was in 4 bays with tiebeam trusses of softwood.

The building which was in the northwest corner of the yard has since been removed by the previous owner.

Site of building

Beyond in the field to the north there is a dewpond shown on the 1841 tithe map and now hidden by bushes. It may have been used to water livestock using the common. Mr Burnham pointed out that there are Scots Pine trees close to the house, often used in the past to indicate a grazing and watering place for drovers.

Poultry Houses

North of the house to the east of the pond there are three large timber poultry houses of different dates. There is a large one directly north of the house.

West shed

The central shed looks the oldest possibly dating from the 1930s.

Central shed

Roof truss of central shed

East poultry shed

Interpretation

The low east end of the house is part of a house dating probably from the late 15th century. My conclusion is that the roof trusses, which have suggested this date, were not part of a timber-framed building as I first thought, as the east end truss was never exposed or infilled. It was quite common at that time to place a truss next to a stone external wall whereas at a later date purlins would be inserted straight into the wall with no end truss.However, the present outer walls are not thick enough to be the originals so they must have been rebuilt. There may have been some sort of firehood or smoke bay at this time as the roof timbers are not soot encrusted but the surviving fireplace is of later date.

A first floor and fireplace were inserted in about 1600, gaining a first floor by boxing in the eaves.

Around 1700 the west end of the house was rebuilt in stone with two stories and an attic and with a stair turret at the rear.

Around 1730-40 this part of the house was embellished by alterations to the façade evidenced by brickwork around the window openings and by a false ceiling with plasterwork inserted over one of the ground floor rooms. The walls of the old east end were rebuilt in stone with dormer gables in the roof. The windows and doorway have ogee mouldings.

In about 1780-90 a fanlight was added over the front door, a pair of doors with a fanlight over were inserted at the foot of the stairs and the staircase was rebuilt. The farm buildings date from around 1800.

After this period the house seems to have been tenanted as a farmhouse rather than used as a gentry house. At some date a parallel range was built behind the old end.