Building record MLI33258 - Austerby Manor House, Bourne

Summary

Austerby Manor House, Bourne.

Type and Period (4)

  • (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1500 AD? to 1780 AD?)
  • (Post Medieval to Mid 20th Century - 1850 AD? to 1962 AD)
  • (Post Medieval to Mid 20th Century - 1850 AD? to 1962 AD)
  • (Post Medieval to Modern - 1780 AD? to 2050 AD)

Protected Status/Designation

Full Description

Austerby Manor House (74 and 76 Austerby), formerly the manor house of the Abbots of Bourne, is probably 16th century. It is of two storeys, L-plan, in coursed stone with a slate roof. The west elevation was repaired in Gothic style in the 19th century. The Manor House has many modern additions and alterations but the north face is almost in its original condition. For the full description and the legal address of this listed building please refer to the appropriate List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. {1} The building is commonly said to be the manor house of, and sometimes the residence of, the Abbots of Bourne Abbey. This derives from the fact that the manor house was almost certainly one of the possessions of Bourne Abbey. There was a lord of the manor of Bourn Abbots in 1856 and one of the old farmhouses in Austerby hamlet was the manor house of Bourn Abbots. This will have been Austerby Manor House and it is, therefore, very likely that Bourn Abbots manor was part of the medieval landholdings of Bourne Abbey. Since the manor house was part of the holdings of the Abbey, it may well have been used by the abbot. It is not known whether this manor house was regularly used by the later abbots as a residence, but it is certainly possible, especially given the proximity of the building to the Abbey precinct. It is unclear whether any of the surviving fabric dates to before the Dissolution of the monasteries. {2}{3}{4} Nos. 74 and 76 Austerby is a late 16th or early 17th century manor house, probably subdivided in the 18th century, with later 18th and early 19th century additions. It includes no.76 and part of no.74 Austerby, with no.76 forming the cross-wing to no.74, the main range. Architecturally the present house appears to be a post Reformation building, built in a single phase of construction some time after the dissolution of the monasteries, but it seems likely that it formed part of the estate of Bourne Abbey and may have replaced an earlier manor house. The 1888 Ordnance Survey map shows the house as one, with the existing small single-storey structure attached to the north gable end of the cross-wing. To the east are three separate units that now form part of no.74. The historic maps, then, suggest that the separation of the cross-wing from the main range must have taken place in the 20th century, but the deeds of no.74 are said to indicate that the division of the manor house into two took place in the late 18th or early 19th century. The house is built of coursed limestone rubble and with ashlar quoins and dressings. The roof of the cross-wing is slate, but the main range and brick-built additions are tiled. Sometime in the 19th century the west elevation was re-fronted and re-modelled in a more self-consciously 'Tudor' style, with wood mullioned and transomed windows with label moulds over them. To the east is a brick-built addition, a working bakery until 1962; the large bowed window suggests it had also been a shop in the 19th century. In 2004 no.76 was converted into two dwellings, nos 76 and 76b. {5}

Sources/Archives (5)

  •  Index: Department of the Environment. 1972. List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. 10/5.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Wheeler, W. H.. 1896. A History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire. app.I p.2 (Austerby).
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Nikolaus Pevsner and John Harris, with Nicholas Antram. 1989. Buildings of England: Lincolnshire (Second Edition). p.175.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: William White. 1856. History, Gazetteer and Directory of Lincolnshire - Second Edition. p.708.
  •  Unpublished Document: English Heritage / Historic England. 2011->. Advice Report from a Heritage Asset Assessment. Case No. 466271.

Map

Location

Grid reference Centred TF 10168 19752 (26m by 29m) Surveyed
Civil Parish BOURNE, SOUTH KESTEVEN, LINCOLNSHIRE

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (2)

External Links (0)

Record last edited

Mar 21 2021 8:35PM

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