Monument record 2838/2/23 - Possible early building

The remains of a pre-1400 domestic building pre-dating Apethorpe Hall

{1} A discontinuous linear anomaly in the approximate centre of the courtyard may represent a wall footing or perhaps just compacted ground from a former path.

{2} Excavations in the east courtyard revealed the presence of a building built before 1400. The stone footings of the west wall were 1m thick, sufficient to support a tall single-storey or a low two-storey building. A thinner wall at right angles indicated that the building contained at least two ground-floor rooms. The walls were robbed of stone after demolition and truncated by drains. Large pottery fragments dating between the mid-12th and the beginning of the 15th centuries confirmed domestic habitation on site, but the paucity of high status pottery suggests that it wasn't a manorial centre at this date. These finds tentatively support the theory that the early manor house lay elsewhere, perhaps closer to the church.

The existence of this building, and the associated pottery, raises the possibility that the road running past Apethorpe church once continued further south than it does today and that it was lined by houses that Wolston had to clear in order to build his new mansion in the late 15th century.

<1> Linford N.; Martin L., 2006, Apethorpe Hall, Northamptonshire: Report on Geophysical Surveys, p.3-4 (checked) (Report). SNN105977.

<2> Morrison, K., 2016, Apethorpe: The Story of an English Country House (Book). SNN110397.

Record last edited

Nov 2 2018 9:38AM