The Manor House
The Manor House has no real claim to that name, as it never has been the house of the Lord of the Manor. At the time of its building the manor of Cleobury Mortimer was in the lordship of the Childe family, whose seat was Kinlet Hall1. The reason for its name is probably that it is one of the two substantial buildings in Cleobury; the other being the former Lacon Childe School building, and that has never been a private building.
We do not know the date of the original house, but we think that it was considerably altered and extended at some time in the early part of the eighteenth century. The late Mr T.H. Pain, who once owned the house, put the date at 1757, but he could not recall how he came upon that date. It is built of brick in the Queen Anne, or possibly the William and Mary, style, with 12-pane sash windows and dormer windows in the roof. Although now flat topped, these originally would have had pitched roofs. The projecting central portion of the façade presents something of a problem. The spacing of the windows there does not match the spacing of the rest of the building. The three windows of the first floor are crowded – there should only be two, if the proportions of the rest of the façade were to be maintained. Similarly, on the ground floor, the doorway is squeezed in between the two flanking windows. Perhaps this projection was added as an embellishment later, although the roof line appears to be continuous. It is a pity that this gracious building is somewhat marred by this feature. The rear of the house has four dormer windows and four windows to each floor, two on each side of two tall rectangular staircase windows, typical of houses of this period locally. The left hand stair window (which was on the servants’ stair) has been blocked up, presumably as a result of the window tax.. Four windows on the west end of the house have also been blocked up, this time with standard bricks, so this may have been for some other reason.
The hall of the house is very elegant, with a beautiful oak staircase. The fireplace, a fine example of mid-Victoria marble work, was brought by Mr Pain from Hafod House, near Aberystwyth, when it was demolished. The two main reception rooms are well proportioned.