An Elizabethan & Jacobean Improprietor's House Reputedly the oldest house in the Vale of Belvoir Long Clawson's Old Manor House, opposite the Parish Church, is a mullioned stone house, re-built 440 years ago by Sir Edward Hastings and his son Sir Henry as Improprietors of the Great Tithes of Claxton, but the mediaeval porch to the house of the monks' men from Belvoir yet shelters the front door. A description in The King's England as "homely and stately among the trees," masked years of genteel neglect that had allowed the house, which is listed Grade II* by English Heritage, both to retain a huge amount of history but also to slip onto the "at risk" register. During conservation over the last 25 years many interesting features have been uncovered: wig cupboards, Elizabethan fireplaces, medieval foundations, a long gallery, 16th to 18th century signatures, even a love poem scratched into the plaster work. The house also retains some of the dairy fixtures from Victorian times when prize-winning Stilton cheese was made here, and it remains a working farmhouse. Research and restoration went hand in hand, and met with general approval and the odd award. We lead tours of the house on periodic open days and have hosted the Fellows of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and several local history groups. Now, for the second time in history, the house is the home of the resident priest or parson for the village. The large orchard behind contains one of the manorial fish ponds, dug maybe between 1250 and 1300, frequented by mallards, coots, moorhens, Greylag geese and swans, all of which have nested here over recent years. Newts, frogs and a shoal of goldfish can often be seen, when they are not hiding from the local heron. Fortunate visitors might catch a glimpse of a kingfisher. Gardens have been laid out in keeping with the Jacobean style of the house. Cobble paths have been revealed, York flagstone walkways laid, and traditional mud walls have been rebuilt around the perimeter. We've built a stone barn to replace the original knocked down in the 1980s. We've built a green oak, daub and thatched summerhouse. Finally, for our intrepid visitors, we've refurbed the mud-walled back-to-back loos, Jakes and Privy, now CAMROT approved.