Monument record 425/1 - Possible site of Stanford Medieval Manor

The old manor house is said to have stood near the church and was demolished in the late 18th century. It may have been located either in the walled garden of the later hall or on land to the south where there are a number of earthworks 'very different in form and plan from the village remains to the south'. Trial trench excavation undertaken in 1995 in the walled garden did not identify any archaeological features or finds.

{1} Two sub-rectangular closes bounded by low scarps and shallow ditches, and a number of indeterminate banks, is all that remains on the ground at the assumed site but these are very different in form and plan from the recognisable village remains to the south, and there is no reason to doubt that they represent the site of the manor house.

{2} Earthworks of possible medieval manor.

{3} E.W. Timmins puts forward suggestion that there were actually two manor houses - the manor (suggested by Cave, Nichols, Bridges) in the walled garden and the manor (identified in earthworks by RCHME) which may have been an earlier manorial site.

{4} There is some doubt as to the location of the former manor house. The O.S. placed it within the walled garden, based on the authority of John Bridges’ History of Northamptonshire (1791, Vol.1, p.578) which states that the family seat of the Caves stood formerly in Stanford near the Church, but was recently pulled down and a new one erected in Leicestershire. However, RCHME (1981, p.176-7) consider that the manor house lay on the opposite side of the road to Swinford, to the south of the Church and west of Home Farm, in the area of earthworks very different in form and plan to the recognisable village remains elsewhere. There is however another reference which places the manor house within the area of the walled garden, that in Nichols’ History of Leicestershire (1801, p.354), which takes its report from notes made in the C18th by Sir Thomas Cave, a noted antiquarian. He states that the heirs of the Cave family had for time immemorial fixed their residence at Stanford, until c.1690 when Sir Roger Cave pulled down the old capital messuage, which was roughly in the middle of the present kitchen garden. It is possible that the earthworks to the south of the church belong to an even earlier manor site, as suggested by E.W.Timmins (Stanford-on-Avon: The Early Manor Houses or Halls, 1992, unpublished).
No indications of the presence of a manor house, or any other form of medieval feature were recovered from the area of the walled garden; three alternative locations were put forward: the area to the south as identified by the RCHME; west of the walled garden or within the walled garden, but in a smaller area missed by the trial trenching.

{5} {7} Plan. Conflict between OS and RCHM grid references and description of earthworks. Location not certain (info G. Foard) .

{6} "the family seat of the Caves stood formerly in Stanford near the Church but within these late years it hath been pulled down and a new one erected in Leicestershire".

{8} Aerial photos NCCAP: SP5979/012+14.

{9}Sir Roger Cave pulled down old manor house on Northamptonshire side of river & built new hall on Leicestershire side in 1690; some contents of old manor transferred;

{10} (Taken from the notes of 18th century antiquarian Sir Thomas Cave, lord of the manor of Stanford)."the heirs of the family of Cave have for time immemorial fixed their residence at Stanford; till about the year 1690, Sir Roger Cave, induced by many improvments and farther conveniences of situtation than could be enjoyed in that spot where the old capital messuage was situate, pulled down the old house…..(which was about the middle of the present kitchen garden).

{11} [SP 5880894] Manor House [GT] (Site of)

{12} The manor house, originally leased by Selby Abbey to the Cave family in 1430, was purchased by the family in 1540, after the Dissolution. It was probably destroyed some time after 1690 when the building of Stanford Hall was begun. It was moated and some remains of the moat survive.

{13} No traces of this Manor House. The ponds to the south of the churchyard (at SP 58757885 and correctly shown on OS 1/2500) are probable remains of the Moat.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.177 site 5 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<2> SUPPLEMENTARY FILE, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN51729.

<3> Timmins E.W., 1992, Stanford-on-Avon: The Early Manor Houses or Halls, (unchecked) (Unpublished Report). SNN43943.

<4> Shaw M.; Soden I.; Masters P., 1995, Stanford-On-Avon, Northamptonshire, Archaeological Evaluation, p.2-3 (checked) (Report). SNN43941.

<5> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.176-7 site 5 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<6> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.578 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<7> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP57NE10 (checked) (Index). SNN443.

<8> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, (unchecked) (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<9> Stanford Hall, (unchecked) (Pamphlet). SNN42834.

<10> Nichols J., 1807, The History and Antiquities of The County of Leicester (v.4 pt.1 The Hundred of Guthlaston), (unchecked) (Series). SNN42842.

<11> Ordnance Survey Map (Scale/date), OS 6" 1899-1950 (Map). SNN112944.

<12> WW, 1960, Field Investigators Comments, 12-AUG-1960 (Note). SNN111457.

<13> Baird, J, 1969, Field Investigators Comments, 07-FEB-1969 (Note). SNN111452.

<14> August, D, 1960, Field Investigators Comments, D August O.R 26-APR-1960 (Note). SNN116429.

<15> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, A/P (RAF VAP 106G/UK/636 3165-6) (Photographs). SNN104890.

<16> Aerial Photograph, A/P (CUAP AGV7 AHT48 AIH34) (Photographs). SNN112974.

<17> RCHME, Undated, RCHME Inventory: Northamptonshire III (North-West), 889317 (Archive). SNN114140.

Record last edited

Feb 10 2025 7:55PM