Great Chalfield Manor

Great Chalfield Manor was rebuilt between 1465 - 85 on the site of an earlier fortified house.

The builder was Thomas Tropnell a wealthy Wiltshire landowner and businessman. He made his fortune in the Wars of the Roses when the new middle class became prosperous after the collapse of the old feudal nobility.

It was a period when no one could feel secure and the domestic yellow-stone building was constructed around a central courtyard and approached through a defensible gatehouse.

The property formed a neat complex with the manor house, farm buildings and parish church encircled by a curtain wall and surrounded by a narrow moat.

No trace of the defensive walls and bastions of the older house remain but the moat still has to be crossed to reach the outer courtyard. From here an archway leads into the forecourt and the house.

The architectural composition of the house was exceptionally balanced for the 15th century. The conventional medieval great hall, two storeys high and lit from both sides, is flanked by two gabled wings with elaborate oriel windows.

The exterior is remarkable for the fine detail of the stone mullioned windows, gables, arches and buttresses. The gable ends have intricately carved stone figures of griffins and soldiers in 15th century armour which give the house a light-hearted appearance.

Although modest in scale, the building is perfectly proportioned and the yellow-grey Corsham stone greatly adds to its charm.

The north, or main, front is much as Tropnell left it in 1480.

The south front was carefully restored and the south wing added in about 1910. The west wing was originally a farm building and facing it across the courtyard is the tiny 14th or 15th century church.

The south chapel of the church was rebuilt by Tropnell and he added the little projecting bellcote with a crocketed octagonal spire.

The interior plan of the house follows a late medieval pattern.

The porch leads directly into the finely-timbered great hall which is screened at one end from the pantry and kitchen beyond and the bed-chamber that lies above it. A rare feature for this period is the separate dining room beyond the screens between the hall and the kitchens. This room contains a mural portrait of Tropnell.

At the other end of the great hall a spiral staircase leads to the solar. Here unusual squints in the form of hollow masks enabled the ladies to look down on the proceedings in the hall.