Appleton Manor

Appleton Manor dates from 1190 to 1200. It was originally moated and elements of the, now dry, moat remain. Its earliest recorded owner was a Miles Crispin, who held the manor in 1086. At the time of Domesday, the site was held by a Richard fitz Reinfrid. The construction of the present manor house was likely undertaken by his grandson, Richard de Appleton, or by his great-grandson, Thomas. In the 16th century it came into the possession of the Fettiplace family. During this period, the manor's most notable occupant, Elinor Fettiplace (c. 1570 – in or after 1647), lived at the house. Coming to the manor from Gloucestershire, on her marriage to Richard Fettiplace in 1589, Elinor kept a…

The manor house stands immediately adjacent to the parish church of St Laurence in the centre of the village. It is of two storeys with attics. The construction materials are limestone rubble with ashlar dressings. The roof is of slate. The original medieval floor plan is uncertain; Blow and Billerey remodelled the house on an L-plan. The gardens were redesigned by Arne Maynard in the 21st century and a modernist pool house was constructed by Stephen Marshall, architects. Appleton is among the oldest inhabited manor houses in England. On his visit in 1966, when undertaking research for the Berkshire volume in the Buildings of England series, Nikolaus Pevsner termed it, "an amazing…