A history of the Manor House Inn

The history of a pub can be traced in more than one way. A list entry describes the building, a visitor remembers how it worked, and a business sale records a change of hands. Taken together, these sources give the Manor House Inn a much more legible history than a single date above a door could provide.

Reading the building record

Historic England’s record for the inn is list entry 1217347. The building was first listed at Grade II on 2 June 1961. The description identifies late-eighteenth-century work in the Gothick style. Its pointed window heads lend that part of the building a medieval look. The square pattern in the panes and the shape of the doorway repeat the design at different scales.

The addition, dated to the middle of the nineteenth century, draws on Tudor forms. Look for the stone uprights between the window panes, especially when comparing the two halves of the elevation. The different treatments help pick out where the earlier design gives way to the later one. The gallery includes a 2007 view with little summer foliage and a 2023 photograph showing the church tower beyond.

Earlier traditions and the White Hart

The operator describes a seventeenth-century inn, a tradition repeated in several accounts of the pub. The statutory listing dates the fabric it identifies much later. An earlier association with the site and a later building are compatible, but a claim about the exact age of a surviving wall or beam needs evidence for that specific feature.

CAMRA’s Bath and Borders listing links an earlier pub name to the local manor and reports that Manor House Inn was in use by 1861. Local accounts use both Hart and Heart for the earlier name. See the White Hart for those spellings and a guide to looking up the property.

Life at the inn in 2008

A contemporary travel feature is unusually helpful here. In May 2008 the Guardian described guest accommodation in the old mews and a pub kitchen that used local ingredients. Three bedrooms were reported. Information about the menu in that article belongs to a particular visit and should be read as a snapshot of pub life at the time.

The writer also gave manorhouseinn.co.uk as the address for readers planning a stay. That explains why a historical guide to the inn is still useful at this address, even though the current operator receives reservations on its own website.

Recent dates in the record

• November 2023. The inn closed, according to the agent who later handled its sale.
• 2024. Christie & Co announced the purchase by Chickpea Group. Work began on the pub and accommodation before reopening.
• 1 February 2025. CAMRA records that the refurbished inn reopened. Nine en-suite rooms were part of the operation, and the former skittle alley took on a new role.

The restoration guide traces the changes to the pub. For a stay now, go to rooms or food and drink for practical information and the operator’s links.