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East Farndon Hall
This Grade II listed building looks like an eighteenth century house.
However, the fact that the main door is not centrally placed
is a sign that perhaps the house is not quite what it appears,
symmetry being one of the principal features of Georgian architecture.
The present off-centre Georgian-style doorway is relatively
recent; photos from 1940 show a different main entrance, though
still off-centre. (see picture below)
 The key clue to its former
appearance is a drawing of 1836 in Northamptonshire Record Office.
It is captioned 'East Farndon Manor House' and shows a lower
building than today, with a central main door. This proves it
was once symmetrical.
The central section has been raised since
1836 to give a full third
storey.It looks like a building
of the early eighteenth of even late seventeenth century. If it was indeed 'the Manor House', then it was presumably the house of the Lord of the Manor.
It is
tempting to think it might have been built by Randolph Middlemore,
who died in 1701, or shortly before, and left £40 for distribution
of coal to the poor of the village. There is, however, no definite
evidence as to who built it or when. There may well have been an
earlier manor house, on the same site, or nearby.
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