Listed Building record MDO8838 - Anderson Manor, Anderson

A manor house built in 1622 for John Tregonwell, and restored around 1912. It is constructed from brick with stone dressings on a flint plinth. The roofs are tiled. The house is of a double-pile plan with parallel roofs; the kitchen wing was added at the north west corner in the late 17th century. The main house is of three storeys comprising a symmetrical front with projecting gabled wings at each end.

Described and illustrated in Country Life. <1>

Anderson Manor built on a modified E-shaped plan by John Tregonwell in 1622 has walls of brick with stone dressings above a plinth of knapped flint banded with square rubble. The main, south, front is symmetrical with an octagonal three-storyed porch at the centre and a projecting gabled bay of two storeys and attic at each end. In the later 17th century a service wing was added at the north west corner of the main block and this was extended westward, probably towards the end of the same century. In recent times minor additions have been made to the north west wing and the interior of the house has been extensively reconditioned. <3>

Anderson Manor (name confirmed) is as described by (3) (See ground photograph). <5>

<1> 1915, Country Life Vol 37 Issue 952 1915-04-03, 446-451 (Serial). SDO19637.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY 88029761) Anderson Manor (NR)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 6 (Monograph). SDO146.

‘(3) ANDERSON MANOR (88019760) stands 80 yds. N. of (1). Above a plinth of knapped flint banded with squared rubble, the walls are of brick with Purbeck stone dressings; the roofs are tiled. The house was built by John Tregonwell in 1622 on a modified E-shaped plan and reference to it is made by Coker (c. 1625): 'of late Mr. Tregonwell has built him a faire house near the church'. In the third quarter of the 17th century a service wing was added at the N.W. corner of the main block, and this was extended westward, probably towards the end of the century; the principal staircase was remodelled at about the same time. At some period there appears to have been a building, now demolished, against the W. wall of the main block. In recent times minor additions have been made to the N.W. wing, and the interior of the house has been extensively reconditioned.
The house is noteworthy for its sensitive execution of a traditional architectural design in a material, brick, that was then comparatively new in Dorset (Plates 52, 89).
Architectural Description—The S. front is a symmetrical three-gabled composition of five bays; at the centre is an octagonal three-storied porch; at each end is a projecting gabled bay of two storeys with an attic. The flint and stone plinth is hollow-chamfered and the wall above is of thin bricks, four courses rising II ins., in bonding consisting of two courses of stretchers to one course of vitrified headers; there are stone quoins at the angles of the three projecting bays, and moulded stone strings between the storeys; the strings lie immediately above the windows and act as hood-moulds. The parapet and gables have a continuous stone coping, with modern ballfinials at the corners and on the apices. In the centre bay the entrance to the porch is a round-headed archway of one roll-moulded and hollow-chamfered order with a plain keystone, continuous jambs and shaped stops; the round-headed inner doorway has continuous ogee-moulded jambs, sunk spandrels and an ogee-moulded square surround; the mouldings end at chamfered and moulded stops. The nail-studded door with strap-hinges and a small spy-hole protected by a metal grill is of the 17th century. Above the porch on the first floor is a hollow-chamfered stone mullioned and transomed window of six square-headed lights extending across the front and the two canted sides of the bay. On the second floor is a mullioned window of the same width and, immediately above it, a moulded string course and a low parapet; from the middle of the window upwards the porch is backed by a central gable which stands in the plane of the main wall-face. The intermediate flanking bays have each a two-light transomed window on the ground and first floors; lead rain-water heads and pipes are embellished with the arms of Tregonwell, the initials I.T. and the date 1622. Each projecting end bay has a two-light mullioned and transomed window on the ground and first floors, and a two-light attic window with a hood-mould in the gable; a blocked window occurs on the ground floor in the E. return of the western bay. Lofty chimneystacks with flues set diagonally and arranged in two groups of four are symmetrically disposed behind the intermediate bays; they are capped with projecting courses of brickwork.
The E. front is in three bays with the two northernmost gabled; the plinth and strings are carried round from the S. front. The windows, of two and three lights, and the rainwater heads are as described above. A doorway between the N. and middle bays is of the early 18th century; it has a moulded architrave and a pulvinated entablature. The N. front comprises three gabled bays, partly masked by the N.W. wing; the plinth is continued from the E. front but the strings are omitted; in their place the mullioned two-light windows have labels with returned stops. The Tregonwell crest appears on two rain-water heads, and a third is inscribed S.T. 1770. The W. front has two gables and stone-mullioned windows of one, two and three lights with labels; a doorway in the N. bay has a chamfered four-centred head and continuous jambs. Two diagonal chasings in the upper part of the wall suggest the pitched roof of some former addition, since removed. The Tregonwell crest is repeated on the lead rain-water boxes and on the lugs of one of the down-pipes; the boxes are also decorated with lead rolls at the top and have small standards with pierced decoration at the angles.
The original N.W. service wing is of three storeys; the hollow-chamfered plinth, where it occurs, is continuous with that of the main house but of brick instead of flint. In the S. front each storey has a hollow-chamfered mullioned window of three square-headed lights with a label, and there is a single attic light, now blocked. At the top of the S. wall is a halfgable, the other half being incorporated in the N. wall of the main house. The gabled N. elevation has rusticated brick quoins, formerly rendered. A first-floor window has a brick relieving arch with projecting bricks to represent rustication. The late 17th-century W. extension is two-storied; in the S. front is a doorway with a chamfered four-centred head and stop-chamfered jambs, and two and three-light stone-mullioned windows; the walls are extensively patched.
Inside, the Hall is lined with 17th-century panelling in four heights. Several doorways have moulded surrounds and panelled oak doors with wrought-iron hinges. An E. window has in stained glass the arms of Tregonwell with helmet, mantling and crest, all reset. The Hall fireplace has a stone surround with a moulded four-centred head. Between the Hall and the present Dining Room, originally the kitchen, is a 17th-century plank-and-muntin partition, made up with some modern material. The Dining Room has a wide open fireplace with a chamfered segmental stone head; the exposed ceiling-beams are stop-chamfered. The N.E. staircase is in two flights; the moulded handrail, turned and moulded balusters, and newels with acorn terminals are of the late 17th century; however an original window on the half landing shows that there was always a staircase in this position. The W. staircase is original; it is of four dog-leg flights and has close strings, moulded handrails and turned and moulded balusters. The ground-floor rooms between the two staircases have fireplaces similar to that of the Hall, and on the first floor are other fireplaces of the same kind, and also some 17th-century panelled doors. The chamber above the Hall has an original ceiling roundel of moulded plaster consisting of radiating stylised branches of roses, thistles, pears and shamrock leaves within a wreath of bay-leaves with foliate bosses at intervals.
In the present century, while the garden and forecourt were being laid out anew, the line of an early terrace to the S. of the house was uncovered. Two lead cisterns with the initials and dates, F.G.H. 1723 and I.W.W. 1764 stand in the garden.’

<4> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 76-77 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<5> Attrill, N J, Field Investigators Comments NJA, F1 NJA 02-JUN-81 (Unpublished document). SDO14743.

<6> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<7> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BF104469 (Index). SDO14738.

ANDERSON MANOR, ANDERSON

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455760 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 14 2023 4:54PM