Monument record 1506/1 - Keeper's Lodge, possible site of medieval/post medieval hunting lodge

Possible medieval hunting lodge site with fishponds and ditches. Possibly the lodge of Akwellsyk, mentioned in 1416. Extensive late medieval demolition layers have been observed beneath and around the current buildings.

{3} Earthworks recorded by aerial photography in 1982. A possible medieval/post medieval hunting lodge with fishponds and ditches. Site name: Brigstock Little Park.

{4} An earthwork survey was done in the Little Park's lodge earthworks. These are more extensive than those for the lodge in the Great Park. Unfortunately the earthworks are partly obscured by a later, and still standing C17th lodge. On Treswell's map of 1602 there is shown an extensive range of buildings along with some, as yet, unidentified structures. There is a large fishpond to the south and to the east, close by, large banks which may be a rabbit warren.

{5} The renovation and extension of a derelict 18th century house in Brigstock Little Park was watched in 1995/6. Inspection of service trenches to the north of the present house revealed an extensive destruction layer consisting mostly of Collyweston roof slates and some fragments of green glazed ridge tile. Trenches for foundations, adjoining the north side of the house, uncovered a 1m deep layer of building rubble with a number of blocks of masonry including mullions and sections of door jambs together with painted wall plaster and a fragment of glazed floor tile decorated with a swan. To the east of the house another service trench passed through made ground of up to 1.5m- possibly the upcast from a linear pond known as the 'cress bed' (remains of a moat?). Pottery was mostly 15th century with few sherds of 13th/14th century Stanion type ware.

In 1416 a commission refers to 'the new work of the king's lodge of Akwellsyk in the Little Park of Brigstock and an extensive account of roll of 1423, listing the work carried out and the materials used, also refers to the throwing down and sorting of tiles and timber on the old house, sorting the old walls and clearing the foundations. This new lodge may well be the building shown on the map of 1602.

{7} Brigstock was the site of a Mediaeval hunting during the Norman and and Angevin periods. A fishpond is documented there in 1129. The buildings were timber and included a hall, a chamber and a mews. In 1273 Edward III asssigned the manor to his mother, Queen Eleanor, in dower, and the manor passed as a dower to successive queens. By the end of the 14th century, the buildings were either ruinous or had been demolished.

<1> Jackson D., 1982, The Royal Deer Parks of Brigstock: an Archaeological Landscape Survey, (unchecked) (Report). SNN55152.

<2> Foard G.; Richardson D., 1983, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1982 (Aerial Photography), 18/183 (checked) (Notes). SNN100412.

<3> FOARD G.R., 1982, Oral Report to SMR, (unchecked) (Oral Report). SNN51084.

<4> Bellamy B.; Foster P.; Johnston G., 1983, The Royal Deer Parks of Brigstock: an Archaeological Landscape Survey, p.15-19 (checked) (Report). SNN43744.

<5> MEDIEVAL SETTLEMENT RESEARCH GROUP, 1996, Annual Report, p. 42 (Annual Report). SNN105122.

<6> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<7> Brown R.A.; Colvin H.M.; Taylor, 1963, The History of The Kings' Works (Vol.II), p. 902 (Series). SNN3801.

Record last edited

Feb 10 2025 8:02PM