|
|
A manor, or estate, usually had a manor-house, the place where the lord of the manor or his representative lived. In this area, some of these manor-houses fortunately are still with us. Some of them, of course, are much altered. One thinks of Coughton Court, Ragley Hall, Gorcott Hall, Barton Manor House, Broom Hall and a few more. Occasionally, the old manor-house has disappeared and a more modern building put in its place; Salford Hall comes to mind.
There are, however, manors which have completely lost their manor-houses but have retained telling signs of their presence in the form of the moats which surrounded them, A word about these moats first: in the early Middle Ages a moat was necessary as a defensive ploy, whether the manor-house was a castle or a house. Even when such defences became irrelevant they often continued to be dug, either because it was customary or as a status symbol. Warwickshire has some of these but 1 doubt if there are any in our area. Some moats were water-filled but others were dry.
In the Lower Arrow and Alne valleys, with which we deal, there are three moated sites still plainly visible which have lost their manor-houses.
Kinwarton
A part of the moat, still wet, remains: some of it has been filled in by a local
farmer. This moat is probably very old but we can give no exact date. Kinwarton Manor
House, eventually coming into the hands of the Lords Brooke of Warwick Castle, was
originally a grange of Evesham Abbey, which owned Kinwarton manor from before the
Conquest. The house ceased to function c.1740.
Beauchamp Court, Alcester
Much of this moat, behind the present house which bears the old title, may be seen.
It surrounded the manor-house of the Beauchamps and was the birthplace of the Fulke
Greville noticed on page 1. The house itself finally expired some time before 1700.
Wyke
This is on the road from Coughton to Sambourne. The moat is completely intact and
is very old. Dugdale in the 1660's says that the house and any attendant cottages had
disappeared well before his time. The manor was probably quite a small one and the family
concerned was that of Peyto.
There are other known deserted sites not distinguished with moats, which we leave until the next issue.
Alcester & District Local History Society