PLAQUE 24:
The Manor House
Fine houses for the gentry...
Three stone steps lead to the front door of The Manor House, a substantial and aesthetically balanced three-storey property with red brick frontage and five matching sash-windows to the first floor with three lead-lined dormer windows above. During the 1939-45 War, The Manor House was used as a Civil Defence Control.
The first Lord of the Manor of Holt was Walter Giffard, a great Norman landowner and cousin of William the Conqueror. He was rewarded for his services at the battle of Hastings with over a hundred manors, including Holt, scattered throughout England. On his death in 1085, his son, also Walter and later Earl of Buckingham, inherited his father’s lands and is thus the Walter referred to in Holt’s entry in the Domesday Book (1086). Holt’s market, dating from these times, remained a feature of community life for 900 years.
The first Lord of the Manor of Holt was Walter Giffard, a great Norman landowner and cousin of William the Conqueror. He was rewarded for his services at the battle of Hastings with over a hundred manors, including Holt, scattered throughout England. On his death in 1085, his son, also Walter and later Earl of Buckingham, inherited his father’s lands and is thus the Walter referred to in Holt’s entry in the Domesday Book (1086). Holt’s market, dating from these times, remained a feature of community life for 900 years.