Set on the lower slopes of Lyth Hill to the South of Shrewsbury, Great Lyth Manor with its pair of shaped gables makes an impressive sight, although from 1948 until the 1970s the house was uninhabited and had to be rescued from dereliction. Its restoration has been convincingly executed so that, once more, its timber mullioned and transomed windows are filled with leaded panes and well-planted gardens surround the house.

Great Lyth was built on a part of the manor of Great Lyth by the Gibbons family, a mercantile Shrewsbury family who held property on Abbey Foregate and on Wyle Cop. The moiety at Great Lyth had been conveyed to Robert de Gatacre in 1203 and it remained with his family until William Gatacre conveyed the estate to Sir Thomas Harries, 1st Bt (d. 1628) of Boreatton (q.v.) in 1604. Harries’ grandson, Sir George Harries, 4th Bt (1631-c. 1664) conveyed the property in 1664 to Nicholas Gibbons (1608–1670), although Gibbons is known to have been resident at Great Lyth at least two years previously.

Whether it was Nicholas, his brother Francis (1639–1712), or son-in-law James Gibbons (1639–1712, who succeeded 1681) that was responsible for the building of the house at Great Lyth is a matter which has been the subject of debate. Eric Mercer suggested that the house might have been built soon after the Gibbons’ acquisition of the property although, equally, the house might be as late as the turn of the eighteenth century – certainly the rubbed brick used on the window headers suggests a later date. In plan, the house is highly traditional, with central three bay range of hall and parlour that is flanked by two bay, side wings which project, leaving the hall range deeply recessed, on the northern entrance side. Here the side wings have memorable compass gables which add hugely to the silhouette of the house, and the centre wing has a subtle echo of them in the form of a central stepped semicircular dormer.