The Manor House is
situated at the corner of Tiverton Lane and Fore Street and is built in
the Elizabethan style. It is probable that although it bears the date
1603 on a panel on the right top corner of the front, the original
building was of the sixteenth century, and that it was refurbished by
TT, the initials under that date, at a later time. These initials,
which occur again in the corresponding panel on the left, are probably
those of Thomas Trott, an early occupant of the house.
On a
lead cistern head of a rainpipe, are the letters (L) S/WT (R) and the
date 1718. This is most likely the date of another reconstruction of
the house, for the original structure evidently consisted only of the
front part, in which there were three rooms and a passage on the ground
floor, three rooms opening into each other above, and above again, the
attics in the gables.
The newel staircase, of which only part
remains, descended to the hall or kitchen. The north wing was built in
1718, and is of brick with a steep slated roof. There is a double shell
porch on the east front of the older half-timbered building, with
branches of olive and fruit on the soffitted ceiling. It rests on
pillars supported by Doric pillars and panelled stilts. The lounge has
the large oak panels of the Queen Anne period, and a moulded and beamed
ceiling, but the interior has been considerably altered, as the house
has been a hotel for some years. The name 'Manor House' was given by
the late Mr J S Upcott in 1850. It appears in the early rate books as
'part of Sellicks'. A William Sellocke was one of the earlier owners,
whilst following him were Bernard Wright Surgeon, John Garret 1785,
William Tanner and Robert Baker 1791, while the Upcott family lived
there for many years from 1828.
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