Monument record 2416/6 - Saxon settlement and Burystede Manor

Location of a defended settlement enclosure occupied between the 6th and 10th centuries AD. An important regional centre and probably the location of the provincial capital of Oundle referred to by Bede. A manor was recorded here in 1086 and its history to the medieval period is very well documented. The settlement is considered to lie between Blackpot Lane, North Street, Church Street and New Street.

{1} During the medieval period all the subsidiary fees in Oundle were held of the Abbot of Peterborough's Burystede Manor. The manor is well recorded and is mentioned in Domesday, in 1125 and again in the late 13th-early 14th centuries when it possessed a dovecote. In 1565 the manor comprised a hall, stable and malthouse and lay on the east side of Bury Street, to the north of the vicarage.

{2} Oundle and its berewicks were granted to the new abbey at Peterborough in its foundation endowment in c.963. In 975 Leofsi seized and despoiled the lands of the abbey in Peterborough, Kettering and Oundle, the lands laying waste without tillage for two years but he was then forced to return the property to the Abbey. Thereafter, although in 1212 the granges of the Abbey are said to have been destroyed by King John, the Abbey continued to hold the manor until the dissolution in 1537. It was run until the late medieval period as a grange by a steward and bailiff and thereafter leased together with the demesne lands to various tenants.It is clear that the Abbot's manor was the principle manor since at least the 10th century. The existence, character and location of that manor can be established from medieval and later documentary sources. There is little reason to doubt continuity in the site of the manor recorded in the immediate pre conquest period and that which is located with certainty from the late 14th century onwards.
The new Burystead carried a datestone of 1670 and this is likely to be its date of construction. On the Inclosure map of 1813 the old Burystead was held by William Walcot, being a close of 1 acre 3 roods and 31 perches, containing a house at its southern end, in the area now part of the churchyard, and a large barn at the southern end of the area now called Gardenways.

{1} Documentary survey of Burystead Manor, the probable late Saxon and Medieval manor held by the Abbot of Peterborough.

<1> Cope-Faulkner R.P., 1997, Desk-Top Assessment of The Proposed Development on Land at Gardenways, Blackpot Lane, Oundle, (part checked) (Report). SNN39888.

<2> Foard G.; Ballinger J.;, 2002, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Oundle, Section 3.1.1.1 &.4 (Report). SNN102637.

<3> Foard G.R., 1988, Burystead Manor, (part checked) (Discussion). SNN51857.

Record last edited

Jul 13 2021 10:23AM