Monument record 130/8 - Rectory Manor (Now Winchester House School)

17th century manor house enlarged in 1875-8. Now in use as a school

{1} The earliest major grants in Brackley were made by the Earl of Leicester as part of the foundation of Leicester Abbey. This seems to have comprised in large part the rectory manor. All the tenements of the Rectory manor lay in the Old Town, which presumably results from the grants being made prior to the foundation of the new town. Lyle occupied a mansion house in Brackley, presumably the Rectory but described by Baker as the ‘Tithe House’, until just before 1606, after which they moved to Evenley leaving the residence in the occupation of the Wenman family, two of whom were members of parliament for the town in the middle and late C17th. In 1733 William and Elizabeth Croft released to the Duke of Bridgewater the capital messuage in St.Peters where Philip Lord Wenman lived, which was William Lisle’s and Sir George Throgmorton’s.
It included yards, backsides, buildings, orchards and stables with five butts in Castle Field butting the yard of the dwelling house. There was also a messuage in the tenure of John Coles which had been Leicester Abbey’s purchased by William Lisle with a cottage on the said property occupied by John Peckover with barn and backside. In 1760 the 'tithe house' and 'tithe barn' stood in adjacent plots on the west side of the upper part of the High Street and by 1830 this property is described as the manor house. It would therefore appear that the property was acquired and created as a capital messuage for the Rectory after the dissolution. This conversion continued between 1733 and 1760.
Manor house, referred to in Alfred Green's work in 1869. The manor house and associated lodge, cottage and stable block are now utilised by Winchester House School, which was largely rebuilt in 1870s.
Winchester House School, a private institution, moved to Brackley in 1918. The school was originally accommodated in Brackley Lodge, but moved to the Manor House in 1922 where it is still located today. The manor house was rebuilt by Charles Bather in the 1870s.

{3} The manor house which succeeded the castle has disappeared, the present building, plain in character and moderate in size, was probably formed out of the offices. It stands in the upper part of the High Street and is still used for holding manorial court.

{4} Winchester House School was at one time a Woodard School, the inspiration of Canon Woodard, which enabled parents of limited means to provide a private education for their children.

{6} This is the Egerton manor house much rebuilt and enlarged. The Earls of Ellesmere left Brackley in 1917. the manor house was a one-storeyed dormered 17th-century house of which only the doorway and the mullioned to its left now survive (now chapel). The rebuilding was done for the Earl of Ellesmere in 1875-8 by Charles Bather in the Jacobean style with gables and mullioned and transomed windows.

{7} The building, much restored and modernised, is still in use as a school. See photographs.

<1> Ballinger J.; Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brackley, Section 3.1.1.2 Rectory Manor + p.81 (part checked) (Digital archive). SNN100499.

<2> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.150 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<3> Baker G., 1830, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.567 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77327.

<4> The National Trust, 1987, Brackley Park, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Survey, p.3 (checked) (Report). SNN108200.

<5> Ballinger J.; Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brackley, (unchecked) (Report). SNN106655.

<6> Bailey, B, Pevsner, N, and Cherry, B, 2013, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p. 130 (Book). SNN111989.

<7> Colquhoun, FD, 1970, Field Investigator's Comments, F1 FDC 10-FEB-70 (Notes). SNN111540.

Record last edited

Feb 10 2025 7:12PM