Building record 0097601000 - PRINCES RISBOROUGH MANOR HOUSE

Dimensions - Length 0024 m Width 0020
Grade II+. House. Mid-late C17 range to front with slightly later rear wings and some earlier internal features. Refurbished by the Rothschilds late C19. Front is of pale red brick in English bond, rear wings are of red and vitreous brick, partly in English bond and partly in Flemish bond. Old tile roofs, hipped and sprocketted over front range, hipped and gabled to rear. Panelled brick chimneys with off-set heads and narrow stone strings. 2 storeys and attic. Front has moulded plinth, first floor band course, wooden eaves cornice with wudillions, and 2 tiers of brick pilasters with simply moulded bases, neckings and capitals. 5 bays of 3-pane sashes with thick glazing bars and boxed frames, set in raised surrounds of red rubbed brick with gauged heads. Altered brickwork between lower and upper windows. 3 C19-C20 hipped dormers with 3-pane'sashes. Central panelled door, the lower panel in form of St. Andrew's cross, the fanlight rectangular with ornamental wooden glazing bars. Mid C18 wooden doorcase with panelled reveals, moulded architrave, fluted Doric pilasters, narrow pulvinated frieze, and dentilled pediment. Attached to front corners of house are garden walls of C17 early C18 brick, also in English bond with moulded plinth and pitched coping, ramped down to front, with brick gate piers rebuilt 1982. N.W. side has 4½ bays with building break between right bays. Similar articulation and dressings but with moulded cornices above first floor windows and brick aprons below. Irregular sashes and windows, the left bay having a leaded cross window in moulded wooden frame, the half bay to left with similar single light. 3 hipped dormers, those to left with paired leaded casements, friezes and cornices. Early C18 brick walls, irregularly bonded, surround garden on this side of house, the N.W. wall incorporated into former barn now 2 houses. N.E. and S.E. fronts of Manor House are irregular with less elaborate dressings. Interior modified C19 retaining some C17 and C18 features, possibly re-set. Very fine mid C17 staircase with pierced wooden balustrade of linked S motifs, moulded handrail, pulvinated string and newel posts with knob finials. Wooden arch between staircase and hall with moulded pendant and early C17 carved frieze. Mid C18 moulded panelling in hall, also a stone fireplace with impost blocks and moulded cornice. Similar fireplace in first floor room to right. Ground floor left room also has panelling, probably C19, the large upper panels arched with keyblocks; fireplace in this room is of mid C17 style with C17 moulded stone architrave,and wooden surround incorporating C17 oval bolection panel. Late C16-C17 moulded panels and moulded stone fireplace with 4-centred arch in first floor central room. C18 2 and 3-panel doors. House formerly known as Brooke House. Illustration in Lipscombe, 'History of Buckinghamshire', Vol. II p. 434 shows centre bay with shaped gable. RCHM I p.270. Mon. 4 (B1).
RED BRICK. 5 BAYS; 2 STOREYS & ATTIC. TILED/HIPPED ROOF. MID-LATE C17, SOME EARLIER INTERNAL FEATURES. REFURBISHED BY ROTHSCHILDS LATE C19 (B2-3).
FORMERLY BROOKE HOUSE. ILLUS (B4).
BY 1862 HOUSE NEGLECTED (B5 ).
NOW NATIONAL TRUST PROPERTY: NAT TRUST SURVEY (B6,B9).
MANOR HOUSE AT NGR (B7).
Watching brief carried out during extensive repairs to house provided detail for structural development of the building. No evidence for earlier fabric incorporated into existing building (B11).
Buildings report held at NMR (B12).