Beanacre Old Manor, Melksham, Wiltshire, SN12 (Grade I)

ST 96 NW MELKSHAM WITHOUT BEANACRE (west side)

2/165 Beanacre Old Manor

GV I

Manor house. Late C14 to early C18. Late C14 open hall and solar, remodelled in early C16. Chapel to rear of c1500. Early C18 service wing to left. Rubblestone with stone slate roofing. Projecting ashlar stacks to hall, solar and chapel. Plan: Hall with wings to sides and rear. 1 storey with attic, 2 windows. Entrance front has wooden Medieval door case to left bay of hall. To right is one 3-light wooden mullioned window, separated from door by buttress opposing central truss. Two 3-light gabled dormers to roof are later. Wing to right renovated 1931, has one storey and attic with door to left and one 3-light mullioned window to right, with 4-light window in Cotswold-type dormer. Gable end has inserted door and casement with 3-light mullioned window above. Wing to left of entrance is early C18 facade of 2-storey 3-window service wing. Windows are 1-light, 5-light and 2-light cyma mullions to ground with three 2-light above. Garden front has entrance of 4-centred arched door with carved drip mould. To right is chapel with pointed arched window with drip mould and one square headed casement. Above door is 4-light arched oriel window, in timber of C18. Transverse wing to chapel has 2-light window to first floor above C19 porched door. Projecting stack to right. To left and set back is early C16 facade of C14 hall and solar, having 2-light arched window to hall and 4-light arch headed window with king mullion and drip mould with carved terminals to left. Above in gable of solar is 2-light arched, window with drip mould and carved terminals. This roof has coping with saddleback. Hall stack to right is stepped. Interior: 2-bay open hall has arch-braced collar roof, with two tiers of wind braces to purlins. 4-centred arched door to left of 4-centred arched fireplace. Solar roof as hall. Chapel has pointed barrel vaulted roof and 4-centred arched fireplace restored by Harold Brakspear, 1931. The dating of the hall and solar to c1360 was made by Harold Brakspear, but the arch braced collar trusses may be C15. Some good renovations of 1931 by H. Brakspear. (Country Life, 4 Dec. 1937, by Arthur Oswald).