THE VALLEY OF WINTERBOURNE. XXXVii. 



WlNTERBOURNE CLENSTON MANOR HOUSE. 



The party drove next to the beautiful manor house of 

 Winterbourne Clenston, the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Rupert 

 Tory, who had kindly allowed the Club to view it, and who 

 gave the members a hospitable welcome. When the party 

 were standing on the lawn before the house, 



The Rev. C. W. H. DICKER gave a brief historical sketch 

 of the development of the English Manor-House, ending 

 with some particulars of the present example. He called 

 attention to the splendid staircase of stone leading up to the 

 principal apartment, the roof of which had been elaborately 

 decorated with fine plaster work. 



The Rev. R. GROSVENOR BARTELOT said that the house, so 

 far as he knew, had never changed hands by purchase, but 

 came down from the time of the Conquest by marriage from 

 family to family. 



A beautiful carved oak overmantel in the dining room traced, in its heraldic 

 shields, the descent of the manor. From a Saxon named Syward, it came to 

 the Winterbournes ; the Winterbourne heiress married a Norman named 

 de la Lynde. A de la Lynde married a Morton, the heiress of the Mortons 

 married a Pleydell, and a Pleydell married a Michel. 



The PRESIDENT having expressed the hearty thanks of the 

 Club to Mr. and Mrs. Tory, the party inspected the fine barn, 

 with its magnificent roof of the early Perpendicular Period. 



CLENSTON CHURCH. 

 TRIBUTE TO THE FIRST PRESIDENT. 



The church of St. Nicholas, Clenston, rebuilt in 1840 by 

 Mrs. Michel with flints and Portland stone, in the Perpen- 

 dicular style, is of no archaeological interest ; but the party 

 entered it to pay a tribute of affectionate remembrance to 

 their first President, the late Mr. J. C. Mansel-Pleydell, of 

 Whatcombe, who there lies buried. 



