Monument record 679/1 - Probable medieval manor and garden

Possible medieval manor house and garden (site of)

{1} Manor House Site (SP 647486), lies immediately N of the church, on the side of a shallow valley, on Boulder Clay at 122 m above OD. The present Bradden House to the SW is traditionally the site of a manor house of the Knights Hospitallers who held land in Bradden; the existing building certainly incorporates a late medieval structure. The earthworks described here may therefore be the site of another medieval manor house of the village.

The earthworks consist of a large rectangular area 120 m long, bounded on the N and E by a bank up to 1.5 m high with an outer ditch 0.25 m deep, and on the S. by a scarp. There is no evidence of a W side. The interior is uneven and has two low scarps along the N side. In the centre of the S side are broad rectangular terraces edged by low scarps which may be the remains of a garden. The site was already abandoned by 1740 (map in NRO) when the field was called Bury; the copse to the E is still called Bury Brake.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.24 site 2 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<2> 1740, Map of Bradden, (unchecked) (Map). SNN13579.

<3> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, A/P (RAF VAP CPE/UK/1994, 2083-4) (Photographs). SNN104890.

Record last edited

Jan 19 2024 1:35PM