A-Z Challenge 2024: April 17. O:- Ockendon Manor

The first recorded owners of Ockendon Manor were the Michel family in the mid-1500s.  The house burned down in 1608 but Michel escaped safely.  In 1658 John Burrell purchased it.  He extended and enhanced the manor during his ownership.  The Manor predominantly features 16th-century timber-framing but has a short stone wing at the south end, thought likely to have been added after the fire. The layout extends unevenly to the west, behind the east range.  It includes the principal entrance to the north and to the west is the main staircase.  Beyond these areas are the kitchen and offices. Some part of these buildings likely date back to the 17th century, but a fire-place on the first floor indicates that there also may have been some of the earlier 16th-century house. 

16C Ockendon Manor (Copyright CE Cook)

In 1858, the building underwent additions and alterations. The south wing, constructed from ashlar, extends eastward from the main front. It comprises two stories and attics, distinguished by moulded string courses. The gable head features corbelled kneelers and ball finials. The original windows remain, as does the four-centred doorway. On the south side, a projecting chimney-stack supports a row of five detached square brick shafts. The east range, covered in rough-cast cement over timber framing, has a low profile. Its upper windows take the form of semi-dormers in the roof. Within the middle bay is a gable-head, while in front of it, a gabled porch-wing boasts an overhanging upper story supported by moulded bressummers and a decorative barge-board.  

The outer entrance has been filled in, but the old four-centred inner doorway made of oak remains visible within the current library. This library features a stone fireplace with a four-centred head and some plain late 16th-century panelling adorned with fluted pilasters. The room immediately to the south, as well as the rooms above it, receive similar treatment. In the stone-built section of the building, another room boasts a stone fireplace with intricately carved mouldings, foliage spandrels, and a key-block bearing the initial ‘B,’ likely from the 18th century. This room also showcases early 17th-century panelling with fluted pilasters and an exotic plaster ceiling. The rooms on the first and second floors above have similar panelling, and in the westernmost wing, yet another bedroom features a Tudor fireplace and panelling.

It has been operated as a hotel since 1987 and has been used as a location on a tv show.  Recent times have seen the addition of a Spa.

Ockendon Manor as a Hotel

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