Map Progression

The first map to show the Manor House, Barn and another ancillary building is Andrews & Dury’s 1773 Map of Wiltshire. The next map accompanies the Box Tithe award of 1840. The buildings are blocked out, which is customary in such awards, but the principal structures – Manor House, Tithe Barn, Stable Block – are recorded, together with several ancillary buildings to the north. The 1891 Estate Map of Rudloe Farm was copied from the Tithe Map and, therefore, shows no differences. 

The next map in the sequence is the 1884/6 Ordnance Survey sheet which records several major alterations to the Manor House including the tall entrance tower on the south façade and an extension to the south-east corner. This proves that the porch at the south-west corner, which provided the original entry to the Manor, was demolished prior to the pre-1884 reordering. Thomas Poynder is likely to have been responsible for this campaign, as the upper roundel on the west façade carried his monogrammed crest, which also appears on the two cottages built for him in 1870 close to Rudloe Manor. The 1885/9 Ordnance Survey Map is identical with the addition of a path leading up to the west front.

The same configuration is repeated again on the 1905 Ordnance Survey Map, but it is easier to discern detail due to the use of red for the major buildings. The 1948 Ordnance Survey Map records one major change to the site, which is the appearance, north of the Stable Block of a U-shaped military building otherwise the principal historic buildings are still discernible.

By 1952 however, as shown on the Ordnance Survey Map of that year, the site had been completely transformed with many new structures built to the north-east and south-east of the Manor House, and the Tithe Barn had been transformed with additions. This reflects the period when the Rudloe Manor site served as sector headquarters for 10 Group Fighter Command and subsequently the Headquarters of the RAF Provost & Security Services and Nos. 1 & 1001 Signal Units.

A close-up detail of the 1955 Ordnance Survey Map shows the historic buildings, particularly the Dairy and the Stable Block, had been altered and conjoined. An aerial shot of the site shows these military buildings before they were demolished. Prominent amongst them, is the Map Room which is to the south of the Manor House.

Medieval

The site is that of a smaller manor house documented from the early 13th century and medieval fabric survives in both the Tithe Barn and The Manor House. The Tithe Barn though much restored and altered, is probably the earlier structure (possibly 11th- or 12th-century) for the feet of the sawn-off trusses were part of a substantial roof of raised cruck form with arched braces. It was built with stone walls, as the truss feet are set on bearers and retained by narrow external buttresses; one original survives. Over the centuries the south wall has been pushed out of true. There are comparable local barns of this type, such as that at the Barton Farm, Bradford-on-Avon, Ashley and at Englishcombe.

The North Wing of the house dates to the 15th century and is not an ‘Ancient Chapel’ as listed in the 1918 sale catalogue. It is a high quality building with a solar chamber above a hall below. This would have been connected to a previous medieval manor house and used by any earlier range before the construction of the current Manor in c1685. Several other manor houses in the area retain good quality medieval fabric, such as Hazelbury Manor, Box Manor, Sheldon Manor, South Wraxall and Great Chalfield Manor. Thomas Tropenell (c.1405-1488) rebuilt Great Chalfield as his principal residence and it is possible that he was also responsible for the contemporary work at Rudloe Manor following his purchase of Rudloe Manor in 1465.

The hall on the ground floor has later subdivisions and given the former slope of the external ground level this must have been a semi-basement probably used for storage or stables. The North Wing has three external walls with a chimneystack at the south end, but must have formerly extended beyond this as far as the staircase wing of the 1680s house, an arrangement that can be seen on the Tithe Map. The chimneystack to the north in the upper room is a 19th-century addition, with the fireplace to the south being original and possibly larger behind the current 19th-century  fireplace added when the solar was divided into two rooms by the Ministry. The first-floor partitions and ceilings have now been stripped out to reveal the stunning oak roof, which is of arch-braced form with cambered collars, a clasped ridge piece and two tiers of through purlins .

Late 17th Century

The rebuilding of the principal range of the house is attributed to Thomas Goddard and dated to 1685. It is built in a contemporary vernacular style, typical of the post-Restoration period, of two storeys and attic with a central chimneystack set in a high, hipped roof. The fenestration is of three-light edge-moulded mullions under dripstones developed from string-courses. There are two oval windows, the lower one blocked, defining the centre of the west facade, which is a symmetrical composition. However, two early 19th-century watercolours by a local artist, James Gibbs of Bath (1792-1841), suggest that this was not always the case. Gibbs, ‘the eminent & highly respected artist of this city’, worked from Nile Street in Bath and died at the Hotwells in Bristol, aged 50 (Bath Chronicle, 1841). He was married to Frances and had six children. His brother William Gibbs of Union Street, Bath, a confectioner, was his executor.

The Gibbs watercolour of the west front is a fascinating record of what Rudloe Manor looked like before the various campaigns of rebuilding driven by the need to provide a grander, more practical entry and entrance hall on the south front. The internal plan of rooms either side of the vast central chimneystack did not allow any space for an entrance in the centre of the west front. Hence the construction of a two-storey porch at the south-west angle set against the fifth bay of the façade, which has since disappeared; as has the gabled range extending from the south front and the lower element attached to the porch. Gone too are the cambered walls, gate piers with their ball finials and the railings. It would seem, therefore, that Thomas Goddard built a five-bay house onto the surviving north range of the medieval manor, entered at the south-west angle. The missing southerly bay and projecting gabled range, which can be clearly seen in the Gibbs watercolour of the Tithe Barn would have provided an entrance hall leading to staircase hall that was subsumed in the later alternations undertaken in about 1870 by Thomas Poynder. The and 20th-century re-modellings have stripped the Manor House of almost all its original features and elements of its internal plan, though fragments of historic panelling survive in the upper room to the north-west. 

18th to Mid 19th Century

During this period Rudloe Manor was a working farm. No major alterations were made to the house although the interiors appear to have been modernised with panelling, staircase balusters and cast iron grates of late-18th-century type. 

Several of the surviving farm buildings were in existence by 1840. The oldest of these, probably earlier 18th-century, is the open fronted cowshed with round stone piers on the west side of the courtyard. The other cowshed with ashlar piers probably dates to the late 18th and was free-standing in 1840. Between them were two other buildings: a parallel range, which survived into the 20th century, and a range at right angles, perhaps another barn, demolished later in the 19th century. This formed the north side of a courtyard in front of the house and is indicated on the 1773 map. Also extant was the small rectangular building north of the house. Its date and function are uncertain, but its proximity to the service areas of the Manor House suggests it may have been a wash or brew house. The 1840 Tithe Map is the first to show plot boundaries surrounding the house and these differ only in detail from the later series of Ordnance Survey maps. The 1886 Ordnance Survey Map shows the existence of the former kitchens to the north elevation, now demolished.

Late 19th Century
In the 1870s Thomas Poynder enlarged the Manor House by the construction of a new wing with an elaborate porch on the south-east corner. This created a roughly symmetrical south elevation and involved extensive lowering of ground levels at the back of the house. The former kitchens on the north of the Manor were probably constructed at the same time.

The 1918 sale particulars give a good account of the Manor House and its ancillary buildings. The best rooms were in the late-17th-century block, comprising the ‘Massive Entrance Porch, Front Hall, Breakfast-room, spacious Drawing-room, Dining-room with useful cupboards, large Kitchen with oven range…Dairy…Large Larder’, and ‘Back Stairs leading to the interesting and “Ancient Chapel”. In addition, there were five principal and four secondary bedrooms on the upper floors. An oblique view of the Manor House is given in the particulars which shows the Thomas Poynder monogrammed crest in the upper roundel; the lower roundel is decorated with a ‘fleur de lys’. This image also captures the  principal windows as a three light ‘Cotswold Square’ format, very typical of period historic buildings in the area. This is likely to have been the original window format with the current leaded lights being a 20th century alteration probably during the significant Daniell and Brummer alterations between 1921 – 1934.

A number of new farm buildings were constructed on the site in the second half of the 19th century and their functions can also be deduced from the 1918 sale catalogue. A ‘Trap-house’ (for vehicles) and Granary, with a raised floor and ventilated substructure were added to the west end of the Tithe Barn. Stables and additional accommodation for cattle were built to the north of the house; one of these ranges, probably a stable, survives converted into domestic accommodation. A ‘Meal House’ (extant) and pigsties (demolished) were built against the back of the pre-existing cowshed and a range of outbuildings to the west of the Manor House demolished. The outbuilding at the north-west angle of the Manor House is shown as ‘the dairy’.

Early 20th Century

Harold Brakspear’s plans, drawn up in 1919 for Captain Francis Daniell, proposed the demolition of the 1870s porch and tower in favour of a cloakroom and WC, with an extensive Drawing Room to be added at the north-east angle. This necessitated the relocation of the entrance to the west front, where a central doorway would have been introduced giving onto a very cramped inner lobby opening into a Hall, a space which had previously served as a drawing room. Although his elevations were in accord with the 17th-century house, the scheme was impractical and was not implemented.

Thereafter, nothing happened until Sir Felix Brunner bought the Manor House in 1928. He immediately commissioned Rolfe and Peto (Harold Peto had worked at the adjacent Hartham Park) to prepare a scheme of alterations and additions (WSHC G3/760/315). The heavily annotated ground floor plan with additions coloured red gives a good idea of what the architects were proposing. Most of the works were confined to the north of the staircase hall and the kitchen and pantry area. It was also proposed to connect the Manor House with the Dairy; the addition in the north-west angle (the Kitchens) were to be converted into the Servants Hall.

This internal re-ordering found expression on the east elevation of the Manor House. The Rolfe & Peto drawing is carefully colour coded to record the existing areas in plain buff and the proposed additions in a honey-coloured stone. A comparison of this drawing and the existing east elevation reveals that most of the changes were achieved. The southern end of the medieval North Wing was altered with a large window opening and the main stair wing and adjacent gable heightened to house a stair extension giving access to new second floor attic rooms. 

While Sir Felix Brunner was in occupation, the Manor House was given new formal gardens of the compartmentalised type popular in the 1920s. This was defined by a series of terraces with a formalisation of the main entrance approach that had always been from the lane to the west. This scheme incorporated the pre-existing formalities around the Manor House, but the terraces to the south of the Tithe Barn were new, constructed on the site of the former rickyard. There was another terrace north-west of the House in front of the L – shaped Stable Block. The areas north and east of the Manor House were less formal and older boundaries were retained.

When ‘Rudloe Farm’ was put up for sale by auction in July 1931 the particulars included six images that recorded Sir Felix Brunner’s campaigns on the Manor House and the gardens. The Tithe Barn is not lit by stone mullion windows and there are no chimneys – both features added by the MOD post 1945 when the wartime radar machines were removed and it became the officers’ dining hall. The original Manor House kitchens are shown as intact on the north elevation serving the adjacent principal dining room to the south. 

When Countess Pappenheim purchased the property in 1931 she had plans drawn up to extend the accommodation by converting outbuildings and connecting them with the Manor House. The small, detached outbuilding and Stable block to the north were linked by a new range from the service wing attached to the Manor House by a covered corridor. Her daughter Countess Raben made further alterations following her mother’s death in 1935, devised in 1937 by Blackford & Son, contractors based in Calne and marked for her husband Count Raben. The connecting ranges can be clearly seen in early-20th-century aerial view.

Circa 1939

The principal loss during the MOD occupation of Rudloe Manor from 1939 was the 14th-century roof of the Tithe Barn, which was sawn off and replaced with steel trusses and a reinforced concrete ceiling. The Barn floor was raised to accommodate foundations to support the 10 Group radar machines, linked to the newly constructed Map Room in the formal garden. Two principal additional buildings were constructed on the site in the immediate vicinity of the Manor House on terraces within the formal garden to the south and in front of the eight-bay Cart Shed.

Other outbuildings seem only to have been retained if functional or picturesque; the round-pillared Cart Shed probably fell into the latter category. The Stables cart shed was used as stabling and the Coach House attached to the Barn probably as garden stores or stables given the height of the entrance. The formal gardens were lost with the construction of the new buildings; however, some elements were retained, such as the pond on the south elevation of Coach House.

Circa 1945

Following WWII, the Tithe Barn was re-purposed my the Ministry into an officers dining hall and conference room with the insertion of six mullion window openings and fireplaces at either end with added chimneys. They refitted the Manor House and ancillary buildings for offices with the insertion of partitions, ceilings and fire doors. The Map Room and the associated offices were re-purposed into squash courts. The site later became Headquarters of the RAF Provost & Security Services and Nos. 1 & 1001 Signal Units

1999 to today

In November 1998 the site was decommissioned by the MOD divided and sold at auction in four lots. An enabling consent was granted for some new houses to support works to safeguard the historic buildings. Under this consent the two wartime military structures were demolished and crushed on site. The Manor House repairs included a structural roof solution and structural repairs of internal openings. New roofs were completed on the Tithe Barn, Dairy and Stable Block. The works included the demolition of the link buildings from the Tithe Barn and to the Stable Block, which were both 20th-century additions. Under these works, however, there was a loss of two historic areas of the Manor House; the original kitchens to the north elevation and the former Flower Room and Brushing Room to the east elevation, which were both demolished.

The 8-bay Cart Shed to the west of the Manor House was restored, including the insertion of new oak trusses, a rebuilding of the circular pillars and the construction of a new stone tile roof under planning consent 15/12534/LBC.

Statutory List

ST 87 SW BOX RUDLOE

1/211 Rudloe Manor

GV 11*

Manor House, late C17, rubble stone with steep stone tiled hipped roof and central ridge stack of 4 clustered diagonal shafts. Two storeys and attic. Two hipped dormers. Four window range of recessed 3-light mullion windows with drip-course over each floor stepped as hoodmould over windows. Relieving arches over ground floor hoods. Centre has oval light to each floor. One-window range to end walls, hipped dormer over 3-light windows with stepped dripcourse. To right of south end, rear wing with later C19 two and a half storey Tudor style porch tower with coped gable, mullion and transom first floor window and Tudor-arched openings on 3 sides of ground floor. Rear 3 gables, largely rebuilt or extended in C19 and C20. Running north is wing apparently late medieval with west side wall stack flanked by first floor cusped C15 single light to right and C19 or restored 2-light window to left, north end cusped single light and east side 2-light cusped mullion-and-transom window. Manor recorded from early Cl3. Interior altered. House probably built c1685 for T. Goddard.

ST 87 SW BOX RUDLOE

1/212 Barn to south-west of Rudloe Manor

GV II

Barn, C17 or C18, rubble stone with stone tiled roof, coped gables and opposed hipped projecting cart-entries. C20 inserted mullion windows and glazing to cart-entries, fireplaces and end-wall stacks. Interior has inserted ceiling. Included for group value.