Details
SS9844 DUNSTER CP STATION ROAD (West side)
3/123 The Old Manor Guesthouse
[formerly listed as The Old
Manor
(Lower Marsh Farmhouse)
Carhamptpon CP) ]
22.5.69
- II*
Manor house, now hotel. Mid-late C15 hall subsequently ceiled, enlarged at rear late
C19, altered mid-late C20. Red sandstone and blue lias random rubble with some dressed
stone in porch, plain clay tile roof left with coped verge of double Roman tile roof to
barn adjoining inset below, lower roof to right of gable end, double Roman tiles, stone
stack left gable end, brick on ridge of right cross wing, lateral stack at rear of hall
masked by later additions. Plan: open hall with solar over service wing and wing beyond
left, enlarged soon after with right cross wing and porch with chapel over set in angle
of hall and left cross wing, subsequent alterations at rear. One and a half storeys,
1:1:2:1 bays, gable fronted outer bay left and cross wing right, full height gabled
porch second bay left, diagonal buttresses to first floor, Perpendicular 2-light window
first floor, lit on right return by trefoil headed lancet, moulded Tudor arch entrance
below under hood mould with arched terminals, half glazed double door; gable end left
early C19 casement dormer with gabled tops to hall, similar window in right gable end,
ground floor C20 metal casements one 3-light left below lintel, 4-light to hall and 3-
light to right gable end with stable-type door beyond. Inner door of porch, chamfered
4-centred arch with C19 half-glazed folding door. In south west corner of solar wing at
rear inset restored C17 ovolo moulded mullion windows. Rear elevation weather boarded
late C19 addition with verandah. Interior: solar wing, 5 pairs of arch braced trusses
with shields resting on corbels and 2 tiers of wing braces, end truss built into east
wall and west wall rebuilt; hall similar roof with jointed cruck truss reveals where C19
stair inserted, no wind braces visible; north wing, not sighted, said to contain cruck
truss roof, ground floor front room steeply chamfered beams with pyramid stops and fine
stone newel said chapel above porch, fine wagon roof with moulded ribs and bosses,
blocked opening on south wall, thought to be of stairway, crocketed niche - piscina or
aumbrey, 3 symetrically placed brackets for statues below east window. C19 addition top
lit hall with 3 sets of rooms opening off, not sighted, said to have been built as
Tuberculosis Sanatorium. Barn adjoining on south side; 3 damaged jointed cruck trusses,
opening at first floor level in chimney breast thought to be access to drying chamger.
Evidence of blocked windows on south wall, otherwise rebuilt. (Photograph in NMR;
Pevsner, Buildings of England, South and West Somerset, 1958; VAG Report, unpublished
SRO, November 1958).
Listing NGR: SS9950044975
