Plaque 5

The Manor House

Awarded a Blue Plaque in 2018

The origins of this building date from the early 16th century and a Tudor door still exists at the right hand end. The house has been modified several times since, with an oven added about 1700 a wing built at the back in 1774 and the front wall was rebuilt in the 19th century.

A notable feature is the very tall chimney at the left hand end - the 1910 photograph below shows that the railway embankment was built very close to the end of the Manor House and, due to the height of this, the chimney had to be extended twice to get above the railway and ensure a good draught for the fire.

This is one of three or four houses in Addingham that have functioned as a manor house at different times – that is, places where the Manor Court met and the Lord of the Manor (or his steward) lived. This became known as the Manor House when Richard Smith, Lord of the Manor, and his wife Mary lived here in the late 18th century and their initials are shown on the 1774 rear extension. He left an interesting diary of his life; one entry mentions that he walked round his land with a pocket-full of acorns (or, as he wrote ‘ackhorns’) which he planted in hedges. The oak tree flourishing on Manor Garth near Back Beck Lane is about 200 years old and could well have grown from one of these acorns.

The Manor House is shown in the 1950s.