HER 384 DESCRIPTION:- Scheduled Monument Description:- Not Available Fosbroke {Source Work 99.} in 1819: The house later known as The Vineyard was built by one of the abbots of Gloucester and was enlarged and moated by Abbot Froucester (1381-1412). After the Dissolution it became the bishop's residence. Washburn {Source Work 243.} in 1825: Used by Parliamentarian forces 1641-1643 (HER 4225). By 1647-8 the residence was ruinous being robbed for its stone. The OS {Source Work 862.} in 1967: Well preserved 3-sided moat (steep slopes on the N preclude a fourth side). Encloses an area of pasture where irregularities of the surface and cow banks indicate buildings. (The causeway on the E was constructed c1938). W breastwork probably of Civil war period. The obvious area for the vineyard (attested in Medieval records) is that centred at SO81501978 & now occupied by the Isolation Hospital. Moat visible on Gloucester City Planner's APs {Source Work 3632.} other earthworks shaded by trees. AP cover of "The Vineyard" - Over {Source Work 2925, 2926, 3502, 3123, 2928, 2931, 3347, 479, 478.} 1930 - NMR APs {Source Work 3347.} view of bridges (before construction of A40) & hospital from the E, W side of earthworks visible in background. 1967 and 1971 - Fairey APs {Source Works 478, 479.} Extant on grassland - fairly dark prints. Some tree cover. Civil War ditch (HER 4225) is well defined. 1976 - Cartog APs {Source Work 568.} At E the main outer bank fades to a weak bank 3.5m wide & 0.7m high with a cutting 2.0m wide & a causeway 4.0m wide across the outer ditch (see sketch with {Source Work 862.}) The site of this earthwork surmounts a hilltop, interior is uneven with hollows & low banks in profusion. In general flat enough to be a building platform & low banks may be footings of walls. Evidence of stonework & molescrapes reveal an abundance of brick & mortar fragments. Earthwork grass covered with some bushes & appears to be a three-sided moat. The causeway may result from infilling & may not be genuine. More detail in {Source Work 862. House shown & described as "The Vineyards" on 1624 map {Source Work 3633.} Mrs Frost sent in a compilation of work undertaken at the record office relating to the site at Over: The residence at the Vineyard at Over was first built by Abbot Staunton 1343-1351. It was only a temporary structure with a parlour, but it had a surrounding wall. Abbot Frocester 1381-1420 replaced it with a stone house and moated it round. The abbots had a large house there to which they frequently retired. It was demolished during the Civil War {Source Work 1643.} but the site and surrounding moat are still visible. This building excited an emulation in the Prior of Llanthony to erect a rival house for the south side of Gloucester. The Vinneyard, where was a house of the Abbots of Gloucester, afterwards the Bishops, but demolished in the Civil Wars was one of the original vineyards mentioned by William of Malmesbury. September 19th 1641 Ordination in the chapel or Oratory at the Wyneyarde near Gloucester, by Godfrey, Bishop of Gloucester. Vineyard House was first plundered in the Christmas holidays in 1641 by Lord Stamford, and was by degrees so dilapidated that stone was hauled from it in the Mayoralty of Walter Clutterbuck 1647-1648. There is also a report that on the 4th August 1502, Abbot Parker conducted Queen Elizabeth, Queen of Henry VII from Prinknash Park through Gloucester to his mansion on Vineyard Hill where she spent the night. She was on her way to Raglan Castle {Source Work 484.} 1996 - An evaluation excavation was undertaken by CAT in 1996 immediately south of the site, just within the northern boundary of SMR 14807, which located the enclosing ditch and evidence for a clay lining to the ditch. (3858) (5109). 1624 - Map referred to on the OS cards as being in Gloucester City Library. It is not in either the library or the records office. 2006 Severn RCZA NMP (SO 81401978) Earthwork (NR) (Name: SO 81511985) The Vineyard (NR) The house later known as The Vineyard was built by one of the abbots of Gloucester and was enlarged and moated by Abbot Froucester (1381- 1412). After the Dissolution it became the bishop's residence.(a). It was plundered by the Parliamentarians at Christmas 1641 and subsequently used by them as an outpost of Gloucester, guarding the western approach and bridge. It was abandoned in August 1643. By 1647-8 the residence was in a ruined condition and was being robbed for its stone (b). The three sided moat (Steep slopes on the N.preclude a fourth side) is well preserved. It encloses an area of pasture where irregularities of the surface and low banks indicate building footings. The causeway on the E was constructed aout 1938 (c).Immediately outside the W arm of the moat is a breastwork which appears to be of the Civil War period. The obvious area for the vineyard (the existence of which is attested in Md records) is that centred at SO 81501978 and now occupied by the Isolation Hospital. This is the best surviving earthwork relating to the siege of Gloucester of 1643. Its plan is similar to the Queen's sconce at Newark. The former bishop's residence was refortified in March 1643 to keep watch on the Royalist force at Highnam, 1.5 miles to the West. A new shallow ditch incorporating artillery emplacements (bastions) on the westfacing corners was added to the Mediaeval moat. Colonel Forbes abandoned the position and burnt the house on August 10th, and the Royalist Welsh army subsequently captured the site. SO 8139 1978 A Medieval and Post-Medieval moated site, visible as earthworks, was mapped from aerial photographs taken in 1955, 1966 and 1968. The house, later known as The Vineyard, was built by one of the abbots of Gloucester and was enlarged and moated by Abbot Froucester (1381-1412). After the Dissolution it became the bishop's residence. The house was plundered for its stone when it was used by Parliamentary forces (1641-1643). Only three sides of the remaining moat ditch were mapped due to coverage by trees and shrubs. The west side of the moat is about 78 metres long and 12 metres wide, the north side 80 metres long and 9 metres wide and the southern side 67 metres long and 7 metres wide, though the latter was truncated by the boundary of the site of the former hospital. The internal area defined by the moat is about 60 metres north to south and 71 metres east to west. The interior of the moated site appears as a number of irregularly shaped earthwork ditches and banks of no discernible plan, probably the result of stone robbing from the former house. Immediately to the west, north and southern side of the medieval moat is an earthwork breastwork which may be a Civil War period defence. The external ditch has a breastwork earthwork bank behind it with two angular bastions projecting perpendicular from these earthen banks, to provide covering fire, at the north-west (SO 8131 1980) and south-west (SO 8135 1971) corners. {Source Work 4249.} 2008 - A topographic survey was carried out of the earthworks of The Vineyard at Over, Highnam. This work was carried out by Nigel Ruxton Land Surveys as part of Gloucestershire County Council's Monument Management Scheme. The survey was carried out across the whole of the earthworks that remain within open ground, with the presence and locations of trees and dense vegetation existing at that time recorded. {Source Work 10523.} <2008 - A pair of medieval or post-medieval pottery sherds were recovered during a visit to the earthworks known as The Vineyard, Over, Highnam. {Source Work 10525.} 2009 - A geophysical survey was undertaken by ArchaeoPhysica Ltd in in July 2008 and February 2009, covering the moat interior and part of the exterior, including the Civil War defences at The Vineyard, Over, Gloucestershire. The magnetic and electrical resistance surveys revealed different aspects of the buried remains, in conjunction with a topographic survey carried out by Nigel Ruxton land Surveys. The results from the interior showed substantial subsurface remains of wall footings, providing an outline of the remains of the abbot's house and associated structures. Important details, such as the apparent thickness of the walls and different materials were elucidated. Most of this was drawn from the electrical resistance results, with complementary information from the magnetic results. The exterior results were of quite different character, revealing aspects of the Civil War defences and agricultural features. {Source Work 9741.} 2012 Subsistence caused by works to restore the canal adjacent to the site of the Vineyard earthwork, Over produced four sherds of pottery from two vessels. One vessel is a handled base of a mug of iron glazed red earthenware typical of the later 16th-17th century and a jar with a thumbed neck, probably from the Herefordshire Border area of similar date. Catalogue: 1. Handled small mug or tyg. Black iron glazed, well-fired red earthenware. Probably Staffordshire or Bristol. Wt. 71 g. Date: late 16th-17th century. 2. Bodysherd and rim sherd from a jar with an internal glaze. The vessel has a band of clay below the rim with intermittent thumb impressions. Probably Herefordshire Border ware (Glos TF 52). Wt. 87 g. Date: late 16th-17th century. {Source Work 12708.} Heritage at Risk Register 2015 Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems - scrub/tree growth {Source Work 13737.} Heritage at Risk Register 2016 Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems - scrub/tree growth {Source Work 14393.} Heritage at Risk Register 2017 Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems - scrub/tree growth {Source Work 14868.} Heritage at Risk Register 2018 Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems - scrub/tree growth {Source Work 15524.} Heritage at Risk Register 2019 Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems - scrub/tree growth {Source Work 16466.} Heritage at Risk Register 2020 Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems - scrub/tree growth {Source Work 17056.} Heritage at Risk Register 2021 Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems - scrub/tree growth {Source Work 17405.} Heritage at Risk Register 2022 Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems - scrub/tree growth {Source Work 17931.} Heritage at Risk Register 2023 Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems - scrub/tree growth {Source Work 18159.} |