An almost 500-year-old manor house in the U.K. with ties to the monarchy has hit the market for £2.95 million (US$3.7 million).
The historic Tudor property, known as Gayton Manor, is on the edge of the pretty hilltop village of Gayton in Northamptonshire. The stately residence was built in 1540 for Sir Francis Tanfield, his wife, Bridget, and their sizable brood of 18 children. Even today, “F & B” can still be seen carved in the dining room’s wooden door surround, according to the listing with Blue Book Agency and Savills.
Later, in 1607, the house was acquired by Sir William Samwell, who was auditor of the exchequer to Queen Elizabeth I of England, and knighted at the coronation of King James I of England in 1603.
“Gayton Manor stands as both a uniquely fascinating piece of history and a beguilingly beautiful building,” said Lindsay Cuthill, co-founder of Blue Book Agency. He called Gayton “an outstanding example of Tudor architecture, which was obsessed with exuberant geometrical shapes, patterns and cryptic devices.”
Believed to have been originally designed as a hunting lodge, the house “embodies the romance and grandeur of the Tudor age but on a hearteningly domestic and comfortable scale,” he added.
The owner, an investment banker and author, acquired the eight-bedroom home for him and his family in 1994, and they have extensively renovated and modernized it since. They built an extension to add a modern kitchen and converted the basement into a media room and playroom.
Those contemporary features are alongside abundant period details, including “arched mullioned windows, Tudor-arched stone fireplaces and wood paneling,” added Nick Rudge, head of Savills in Banbury.
The most impressive room in the house is the original Tudor great hall, now used as a formal drawing room, which has exposed beams and an enormous stone fireplace. A small minstrels’ gallery—a kind of interior balcony that used to allow musicians to perform, at times hidden from the guests below—overlooks the grand living room.
Across its almost 9,000 square feet, the manor also has a paneled dining room, a cozy sitting room, and the open-plan kitchen, breakfast and living room, which is housed in a modern single-story extension with a vaulted ceiling and stone floor, according to the listing.
The home sits on 4.42 acres of grounds, which include a formal garden, an orchard, a stone terrace, a lawn, a rose garden, a pond and a kitchen garden. There are multiple outbuildings, too, ranging from staff accommodations and garages to an office and stables.
“Referred to as ‘the county of spires and squires,’ Northamptonshire boasts beautiful gently rolling countryside and some of the finest country houses and churches in England,” Cuthill said. “The local area is known for its pretty ironstone villages and Gayton is a classic example.”