A modest Elizabethan gentry house, yet with long gallery, retaining a rustic interior, with little intervention over the centuries. Recently conserved from impending dereliction, furnished with old oak and an in-depth history.
Financed out of the income from the great tithes of Claxton, alias Clawson, Sir Edward Hastings, of Leicester Abbey, fourth son of the second Earl of Huntingdon, started this house about 1580, and his son Sir Henry of the Newark finished it around 1600. The house seems to have lain empty until 1627 when Henry’s wife died, and he took up residence here as a recluse. Henry probably intended it for his second son Richard, who showed his constant interest in the place by carving his name with pride on the windowsills and the wall plaster. Richard’s elder brother, also Henry, married Jane Sacheverell at St Remigius’ Church on July 22nd 1641 by special licence, hiring the house for the occasion and leaving graffiti to mark it, as by then his father had handed the keys to the bankers and moved to Humberston.
Come the middle of the century and the end of the Civil War the house was old fashioned and dilapidated. Its three south gables were taken off, and it was divided into two farmhouses. Around 1850, it was put back together, but remained a farmhouse. Although there are many surviving houses that look similar from the outside, this is very rare having kept so much of its early insides.
Tickets include tea and cakes.
Event organiser is Clawson Old Manor
Disclaimer: All information was correct when the listing was prepared. Any questions about the event should be directed to the event organiser.