Burton Agnes Manor House is a rectangular two storey block and, when seen from the usual S or E approach, it appears of brick like the adjacent Elizabethan Hall to the E. Within this ‘complete disguise’ (Wood 1956, 1), the hall is a largely 12thc building comprising undercroft and first-floor hall. A view from the churchyard, from the W, shows the proximity of the original manor house to its church. Round the back of the building, in a separate out-building, is a 12thc well, with a wooden donkey wheel approximately 20m deep.

The N wall is original masonry, with a blocked entrance doorway at first floor level at the W end. This shows no sculpture on either face but only plain and square components; it would have been reached by an external stair. The large stone chimney breast on the same wall is probably original but perhaps not of our period; also, the series of corbels supporting it featuring convex faces and plain sides were carved later on.

The fabric is mixed and consists of chalk (in the voussoirs of the undercroft vault) and local limestone with brick repairs for the walls. The first floor hall measures 13.6m x 6.9m (Wood 1974, 54-55). Some of its pavement is said to survive. As well as the interior face of the entrance doorway at the W end of the N wall, a similar arch of chalk voussoirs is seen at the E end of the same wall; this is considered to be for a window to light the top end of the hall, but that seems impractical. No other window openings can be identified.

Sculpture decorates the vaulted undercroft - the central supports having lugs, waterleaf capitals and chamfer stops; there is a head corbel behind the door in the SE corner.

In 1086 12 carucates were held by the King and sublet to an unnamed rent-payer, perhaps Geoffrey Bainard who gave the church to St Mary's Abbey of York around 1100-1125. The manor was subsequently given to Robert de Brus (VCHER II, 107).

The lord of the demesne comprising Burton Agnes in the later 12thc was probably Roger de Stutville, who held Yorkshire lands from Adam de Brus II in 1172 (VCHER II, 107). The old manor house was probably built for him around 1170-80 (Pevsner & Neave 1995, 366).

The name ‘Agnes’ first appeared in 1231, and may have come from the name of Agnes of Aumale, the second wife of Adam de Brus II who held the manor of the king before 1176 (VCHER II, 106), or from a daughter of Roger de Stuteville (Wood 1956, 1-2; Morris 1919, 122).

Restoration by the Ministry of Works carried out in 1948 returned the building to its 12thc condition as far as was possible, although the roof is 15thc.

The nature of the chalk in the region of the Great Wold Valley and eastward has been changed from what would be expected in Southern England. Compression and severe faulting has rendered the chalk unusually strong, so that it can be used as load-bearing stone. This is useful in an area without a first-class building stone, although the chalk does not weather well outside. Hence, its use in the vaulting and interior of the undercroft and hall.

Excavations against N wall brought to light what could have been the base for the staircase was found: the corbelled chimney breast is thought to be later than the doorway, because it would have blocked the stair (Wilson 1988).