Building record 1681/3/1 - Brigstock Manor

Manor house with medieval origins and remains of moat now converted to a sunken garden. The building is mainly dated late 15th century to mid 16th century. Altered 17th to 18th century and restored and extended mid 19th century and 1887.

{1} Manor house. Probably C12 origins, mainly late C15 and mid C16, altered C17/C18, restored mid C19 and extended c.1887 by Gotch and Saunders. Squared coursed limestone and ironstone with ashlar dressings and Colleyweston slate and C19 plain-tile roofs. Hall with cross wing forming L-shape plan with additions. 2 storeys with attic. Main front is irregular 6 bays with bay to left breaking forward as 2-storey gabled cross wing with attic. 3 bays to right of centre are original 2-storey hall. Bay to left of hall breaks forward as a 3-storey gabled porch corresponding with the original screens passage. Small doorway with 4-centred arch head. Flanking, 2-stage, clasping buttresses. Upper stage of porch in ashlar with 3-light first and second floor stone mullion windows. 2-window range of hall to right of porch has 2-light stone mullion windows with 4-centred arch heads, to ground and first floor; each has transom and cusped-head lights. Bay to right of hall is a later build and has one-window range of 3-light stone mullion windows to ground and first floor. Bay immediately left of porch has similar 2-light windows. Cross wing to far left has 4-light stone mullion windows with king mullion. 2-stage buttress between hall and bay to right. Chamfered plinth. Ashlar gable parapets and kneelers and ashlar stacks at ridge and end. Range set back to far left is c.1887 in similar style with 3- and 4-light stone mullion windows. 2-storey flat-roof link corridor, of same date, at intersection of C16 and C19 wings. Rear elevation of C19 range has 3 gables with 2-, 3- and 4-light stone mullion windows. Rear elevation of hall range is also entrance front. 3-window range; 2 windows to right are similar to those to main front of hall. Window to ground floor left is a 6-light stone mullion window with trefoil-head lights. Similar 2-light window above. Projecting porch to right is 2 storeys, 2-window range of 2-light stone mullion windows. Return wall of porch has doorway with 4-centred arch head and roll moulded surround. 3-light stone mullion window, above, has trefoil-head lights. Parapet wall with strapwork decoration. The porch is probably built with re-used masonry. Elevation at right angles to right of porch is mid C16 and C17 with gable and 2-, 3- and 4-light stone mullion windows. Ashlar gable parapets and stone stacks at ridge and end. The C19 range has plain-tile roof. Interior: Jacobean staircase with half landings, turned balusters and tall newels, probably partly reconstructed C19. Lower hall has spine beams, and reset C17 panelling said to have come from Warkton Church, restored C19. Library at far right of main front has fireplace with 4-centred arch head. Adam room to left of main front has Adam style marble fireplace and Adam style plaster mouldings, probably C19. Kitchen, to rear of C16 range, has large open fireplace. First floor hall has 3 arched braced roof trusses and fragments of stained glass in windows. Room to first floor far right of main front has fireplace with Roccoco style overmantle and Delft tile hearth, probably reset. First floor rooms over kitchen and Adam room have fireplaces with 4-centred arch heads. The present hall was probably built by Thomas Montague late C15 and the building extended by Roger Montague mid C16. It is suggested that the hall and porch roofs were raised and a gallery inserted. The Manor passed to the Dukes of Buccleuch who carried out mid C19 restoration and late C19 extensions. (Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.122; Gotch, J.A: Squires Homes and Other Old Buildings of Northamptonshire, p.9; Carpenter, R.H., St. Andrews Church, Brigstock, p.9 to 11).

{5} Much restored 16th century house.

{7} An archaeological assessment of the manor building including desk top and building surveys established that the areas of proposed alterations have all been previously affected by late nineteenth and twentieth century changes. These changes have included the installation of new surface decoration and the demolition and introduction of room divisions. The areas of rebuilding have taken place mostly in the late nineteenth extension to the house although one partition wall has been removed from the seventeenth century wing to enlarge a room.

There is no certainty as to where within the manorial area the early medieval capital messuage lay. A late Saxon hall is to be expected as well as various rebuilding in the medieval period. Various repairs are recorded in the mid 12th to mid 13th centuries in connection with the hunting lodge at Brigstock. This building is likely to be the manor within the village, though there were various lodges within the Great Park itself. The buildings at Brigstock were of timber and included a hall, chamber and a mews. Brigstock was still in good repair when assigned by Edward I to his mother Queen Eleanor in the late 13th century and it remained part of the dower of successive queens. By the end of the 14th century the buildings had however fallen into disrepair and been demolished. In 1596 it was stated very clearly that this ground adjacent to the churchyard was >without doubt where anciently the Capital Messuage was situated.

A new house was built, probably by the Montagu family when they leased the manor from the crown in 1449. This would accord well with the evidence from the standing building which is of the late 15th and mid 16th century, the latter probably relating to the sub letting of the manor to the Parr family. The house was further altered in 17th or 18th centuries, restored mid 19th century and extended c. 1887 by Gotch and Saunders.

{11}The royal hunting lodge at Brigstock is moated, the period it was built is unknown?

{12} Undated photo;

{13} By far the highest potential exists for the investigation of the origins and development of the Saxon royal manor and its immediate environs. A large part of the area where the early medieval and by implication the Saxon manor may be expected to have lain is garden. Moreover the late medieval manor house may not have been built on exactly the same location within this area as the Saxon and early medieval manor. Hence there is the potential for very good survival of the Saxon and early medieval manor. Potential also exists for continuity between Roman settlement and the Saxon manor.

In 1086 Brigstock was a royal manor comprising 3.5 hides. The manor was also a royal estate centre for Domesday Book records dependencies in Islip, Geddington and Stanion. It is unclear whether Brigstock was a primary Saxon administrative centre or if it may be one of a number of such centres which appear to represent a transfer of estate centre to a woodland context at some time in the middle or late Saxon period. Such transfers might be associated with residences established in connection with hunting, something that certainly occurred in the medieval period. (1)
For further details of the manor see main report.

{15} Despite the recovery of a stratified sequence of former human activity at the site the limited nature of the excavation makes interpretation difficult. The evidence suggests that following decline in the mid-late Roman period, there was little if any activity in this part of the manor grounds other than cultivation before the 10th century. The pottery assemblage recovered is too small in size to determine if the site was of high status in the late Saxon period.

{6} The limited excavation has confirmed the importance of the site in the late Saxon period, while the presence of a small quantity of earlier Saxon pottery makes and Early-Middle Saxon origin for the site more likely.

{18} Manor House restored/renovated. Owned by Steward and Lloyds Steel Works and occupied as offices. Moat now converted into a sunken garden. Surveyed. G.Ps.AO/61/141/3 Aspect from East. G.Ps.AO/61/141/4 Aspect from North.

{19} No change.

{20} Brigstock manor house was built in the 16th century and later became a farmhouse. In 1887 the building was restored and a new wing was added, in harmony with the old work.

{21} SP 9453 8523: Manor House [G.T.] Moat [G.T.]

{25} Medieval glass present in one of the original windows which consist of two lights divided by a transom. The property was leased to the Montagu family in 1449 who are considered to have begun the existing construction.

{26} Drawing of manor house dated November 22nd 1890;

{27} Two photos dated August 1968;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 15/78 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), G09 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN41470.

<3> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<4> The Manor House (Brigstock), (checked) (Article). SNN107603.

<5> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1975, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.21 site 10 (checked) (Series). SNN77379.

<6> FOARD G.R., 1983, Brigstock Manor, (checked) (Interim Note). SNN45540.

<7> Prentice J., 2002, A pre-determination assessment at Brigstock Manor, Northamptonshire, (checked) (Report). SNN102096.

<8> 1440, Survey of Brigstock, 1440, (unchecked) (Document). SNN100442.

<9> 1596, Survey of Brigstock, (unchecked) (Document). SNN100443.

<10> 1725, Brigstock Survey, (unchecked) (Map). SNN100446.

<11> Woodfield P., 1981, The Larger Medieval Houses of Northamptonshire, p.156 (unchecked) (Article). SNN23550.

<12> Photographs of buildings in Brigstock (Photographs). SNN111673.

<13> Foard G, 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brigstock (Medieval + Post Medieval), (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN100441.

<15> Steadman, S., 1992, Excavations at Brigstock Manor, Northants, in 1983, p.8 (checked) (Report). SNN45541.

<16> Foard G., 2000, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brigstock, (unchecked) (Report). SNN101571.

<17> Loxston, Rev. G.R., 1977, Church of Saint Andrew, Brigstock, (unchecked) (Guide). SNN108952.

<18> Colquhoun, FD, 1961, Field investigators comments, F1 FDC 04-SEP-1961 (Notes). SNN113017.

<19> Baird, J, 1969, Field Investigators Comments, F2 JB 04-AUG-1969 (Note). SNN111452.

<20> Gotch J.A., 1939, Squires' Homes and Other Old Buildings of Northamptonshire, p. 9 (Book). SNN39616.

<21> Ordnance Survey Map (Scale/date), OS 25" 1926 (Map). SNN112944.

<22> Historic England, Undated, BRIGSTOCK MANOR HOUSE, BRIGSTOCK, BF061900 (Archive). SNN113419.

<23> Historic England, Undated, BRIGSTOCK MANOR HOUSE FROM THE NORTH, OS61/F141/4 (Archive). SNN113421.

<24> Historic England, Undated, BRIGSTOCK MANOR HOUSE FROM THE EAST, OS61/F141/3 (Archive). SNN113420.

<25> Marks R., 1998, Stained Glass Of Northamptonshire, p. 29 (Book). SNN101533.

<26> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, DR/25/44/2 (Archive). SNN115.

<27> Miss June Swann, 1960s- 70s, Miss June Swann Photographic Archive (Photographs). SNN116665.

Record last edited

Jan 8 2025 10:38AM