Monument record 3026/3/1 - Former Medieval & Post Medieval Manor House at Blatherwycke

{1} The manor and town of Blatherwyke are now in the hand of the daughters of William Stafford Esq. The manor house is old and large but seemeth unfinished.

{2} Owned by Sir Humphrey Stafford, the house came into the ownership of the O'Brien family, supposedly descended from Brian Bora King of Ireland in 1002, and the Staffords and the O'Briens were subsequently united by marriage in 1699.

{3} A manor house was in existence in 1319. Humphrey Staffrod acquired the Blatherwycke estate in the C15th through marriage. In 1720 the eldest daughter of William Stafford, who was married to Henry, the youngest son of Sir Donough O’Brien, inherited Blatherwycke. They rebuilt the house almost immediately. Bridges recorded that the manor house was old and large, but seemed unfinished. This is clearly not the hall demolished in 1948, but must be the Elizabethan house that Humphrey Stafford had built, which is shown on a map of c.1700. [Latter implies that there were separate medieval and Elizabethan manor houses here.]

{4} Evaluation work in February 2005 failed to recover evidence for remains associated with a posisble medieval precursor to Blatherwycke Hall.

{5} During the watching brief a number of pieces of carved stone were observed where they had been removed from sections of stable block walling that were being re-built. Their carved surfaces were built inward facing so that externally they appeared to be simple ashlar blocks. They were all carved from fine-grained Oolitic limestone, perhaps from the nearby Kingscliffe quarries. Some were clearly pieces of window mullions whose profiles suggest a late C16th or C17th date since they possess ovolo mouldings.It cannot be certain that they came from the site, although it is posisble that they may be elements of the earlier house built by Humphrey Stafford, somewhere close by. If this is the case they were stored on the estate from c.1720 until incorporated within the new stable block in 1770.

<1> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.275 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77326.

<2> Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group, 2010, Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group Newsletter (Vol.115), p.5 (checked) (Newsletter). SNN44153.

<3> Prentice J., 2009, Archaeological Building Assessment at Blatherwycke Hall Stables, Northamptonshire, March 2008, p.2 (checked) (Report). SNN107969.

<4> Butler A.; Jones C.; Thorne A., 2005, A Geophysical Survey and Archaeological Evaluation at Blatherwycke Hall, Northamptonshire, February 2005, p.7 (checked) (Report). SNN107935.

<5> Prentice J., 2011, Archaeological Recording of Graffiti and Watching Brief at Blatherwycke Hall Stables, Northamptonshire, p.11-12 (part checked) (Report). SNN108149.

Record last edited

Jul 31 2014 6:01PM