In the early thirteenth century, the builders of Nassington's Prebendal Manor faced a problem that any architect working on an occupied house would recognise: how do you replace a building while someone is still living in it? Their solution was remarkable. They constructed new stone walls around the existing Saxon timber hall — a hall that Cnut had used as a royal residence in the early eleventh century — and then, once the stone envelope was complete, carefully dismantled the timber structure from inside. The Saxon central hearth, which had warmed the hall since before the Norman Conquest, was left in place. It continued to heat the building until 1434 — over four centuries of continuous use. What interests me as an architect is the principle embedded in that sequence: you do not demolish what works; you build around it, improve it, and let the old yield to the new on its own terms. The Prebendal Manor, Grade I listed, still stands beside the Church of St Mary the Virgin and All Saints on the western bank of the Nene.
Award-winning Architects in Nassington
Certified Passivhaus, Careful Conservation
The Deerings, our certified Passivhaus home in Hertfordshire, won the RIBA East Award in 2018 — a project where every material and junction was selected for performance over the long term, the same principle those medieval builders at Nassington applied when they chose stone to replace timber. I founded Gresford Architects in London in 2006, and we now work from Oxford with clients across the country. I am an ARB-registered and RIBA Chartered architect, a member of SPAB — the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings — the Passivhaus Trust and The Green Register. I was a finalist for Sustainability Architect of the Year at the Building Design Awards, and in 2025 I was invited to judge the British Homes Awards. Our projects have been published in Dezeen, Grand Designs Magazine and The Modern House Journal.
Architectural Services on the Nene
Sustainable Design connects every project we take on, and in Nassington the Prebendal Manor offers an object lesson: a building that has been continuously occupied for a thousand years because each generation adapted it rather than starting again. That Saxon hearth burning for four centuries inside a stone envelope is the most elemental form of sustainable design — continuity of use achieved through intelligent material choices. PassivHaus Design sets our benchmark for new construction, delivering certified comfort with minimal energy demand. New Build Design in Nassington should respond to the limestone and Collyweston slate character of a village whose architecture spans from Saxon origins to the seventeenth century. For sites in the countryside around the parish, where the Nene valley opens towards Peterborough and the landscape retains the scale that drew kings to build here, Paragraph 84 of the National Planning Policy Framework provides a route to architecturally outstanding homes — but the design must be worthy of a setting that already contains architecture of national significance.
Renovations in Nassington engage with a building stock of exceptional quality. The church, Grade I listed, records every major period of English architecture from Saxon to Perpendicular — Saxon long-and-short quoins survive in the tower, whose lower three stages date from the eleventh century, while the octagonal upper stage and crocketed spire carry a date stamp of 1640. A fourteenth-century fire necessitated rebuilding of the south aisle, chancel arch and nave arches, and during restoration in the 1880s a tenth-century Saxon cross shaft was uncovered, carved on all four sides. The village's stone houses use the local limestone with Collyweston slate roofs. North Northamptonshire Council handles planning for the parish. Through my membership of SPAB, I approach these buildings with the understanding that solid stone walls manage moisture through their mass and their lime mortar — and that any renovation must work with that behaviour.
Extension Design in Nassington should respond to the material quality that makes this village distinctive. The limestone walling, the Collyweston slate, the proportions of the older houses along Church Street — these set a standard that any extension must meet. Whether the brief is a ground-floor extension that opens the house towards the river, a garden room, or additional space above, the design should make the whole building feel more resolved while sitting comfortably within a village whose architecture spans a millennium.
EnerPHit, the Passivhaus Institute's certified retrofit standard, addresses the thermal performance of older homes without compromising their character. The stone cottages in Nassington present the familiar challenge of solid-walled construction: thick walls with no insulation, draughty junctions, and a building envelope that predates any concept of thermal efficiency. Vapour-open insulation, careful airtightness detailing, and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery can transform them — warmer, quieter, dramatically cheaper to run — while the limestone and slate facades continue to weather as they always have.
Nassington's medieval builders constructed a new house around an old one, and the hearth burned on. If you are considering a project here, we would welcome the conversation.