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Summary

The Mowbray Manor House (site of), Vinegarth

Monument Types

• FLOOR (MED:C12,C13,C14,C15,C16, Medieval to Post Medieval - 1100 AD to 1599 AD)
• MANOR HOUSE (MED:C12,C13,C14,C15,C16, Medieval to Post Medieval - 1100 AD to 1599 AD)

Protected Status - None

Associated Finds

• COIN (Roman - 300 AD to 399 AD)
• FLOOR (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1100 AD to 1599 AD)
• RING (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1100 AD to 1599 AD)
• TILE (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1100 AD to 1599 AD)

Associated Events

• Excavations at Vinegarth
• Resitivity Geophysical Survey at Vinegarth, Epworth 2017
• Desk-Based Assessment, Land to rear of No. 7 Church Street, Epworth, North Lincolnshire (Ref: 1733)

Full description

Reputed site of Mowbray Manor House and possible site of chantry dedicated to St. Mary and St. Katherine founded by Lord Mowbray, 1344 (Owen 1971, 95, 97-8). Large house with "hall, parlour, kitchen with three lofts over them" recorded standing 1749, close called "Vineyards" to N and E, inscribed gold and silver rings found (Stonehouse 1839, 126). "A canon of bar-iron, antiquities and foundations of buildings" found in same area c. late 18th cent. (White 1856, 627). Foundations and patterned floor tiles bearing Mowbray arms found 1964 and 1968 at above NGR (SMI, parish files). Excavations S of church, directed by R Williams 1975-6 in advance of housing development, revealed 12th to 16th cent. marlstone foundations, patterned tile floor, pits etc., perhaps buildings ancillary to larger establishment. Features deep enough to avoid damage through future construction work (info. R Williams, 1976). [1]

In a journal entry dated 19.04.1968, Chris Knowles of Scunthorpe Museum mentions excavations underway at that time : 'Rev. W.B. Harvey, the rector at Epworth, has been digging with his sexton on what seems to be the site of the Mowbray house in the field to the S of Epworth church (SE78470397). Brick foundations were first found in the extension of the graveyard to the E of the church, and a depth of some 5ft. This was 4 or 5 years ago. The discovery gave them the idea to look over the wall to the south and some scruffy holes, to judge from Harvey's photographs, revealed lengths of stone foundations and a paved area some 12ft square. Harvey has 8 or 10 patterned floor tiles from this area. They are late medieval, being glazed over white clay filling a pattern stamped into red clay. Most of his tiles have the Mowbray arms of a lion rampant, but retrograde, within a shield placed diagonally on the tile. Two other geometric patterns are on the other tiles. Little or no pottery seems to have been found.' [3]

Typed notes by Keith Miller in the North Lincolnshire Museum parish files state that the foundation in the graveyard extension, exposed by the vicar and sexton c. 1964, was a 'wall running N-S with 10 courses'. A sketch map shows this wall, the 'foundations' to the south, and the 'castle site' of the Mowbrays, depicted as c. 130m north of the churchyard. [4]

Summary of the 1975-76 excavations in Vinegarth: ' R. A. H. Williams for D.o.E. excavated the site of the Mowbray's manor house. Only the S. wall of the hall remained. This was flanked by a rectangular stone base to an exterior staircase(?), which perhaps explains the absence of a floor. A kitchen was attached to the SW. corner of the hall; the centre of its floor was of glazed tiles laid diagonally. Tiles bearing the Mowbray shield were grouped in sets of nine with one row of plain tiles dividing each set. A reconstruction of the floor may be displayed in Doncaster Museum. The rest of the floor was of half-baked bricks. S. of the hall and kitchen lay a cloistral walk, 18 m. sq. Deep foundations on the W. and other structures farther W. against the S. side of the church would have been service buildings. Documentary evidence suggests that a manor house stood at Epworth in 1266; the part described here probably fell into disuse in the 16th century. ' [5]

The results of the 1975-76 excavations were published in Vol 19 of Lincolnshire History & Archaeology, 1984 : Hayfield, C, 'Excavations on the Site of the Mowbray Manor House at Vinegarth, Epworth, Lincolnshire, 1975-1976', 5-27. [6]

Parker, S., 2017, Geophysical Survey : Land at the Vinegarth Epworth North Lincolnshire (REPORT - INTERIM, RESEARCH, SPECIALIST, ETC). SLS7452.

<1> Loughlin, N and Miller, KR, 1979, A Survey of Archaeological Sites in Humberside, 154 (BOOK). SLS523.

<2> IOA 88, FLOOR TILE, MOWBRAY MANOR HOUSE (GROUND SLIDE). SLS2.

<3> Chris Knowles, 1967, Site notes 1967-70 (DIARY). SLS7038.

<4> North Lincolnshire Museum, Parish files, Haxey (MUSEUM RECORDS). SLS1344.

<5> Medieval Archaeology, 22, 1978, 181 (SERIAL - PERIODICALS, ANNUAL REPORTS, MONOGRAPH SE). SLS3040.

<6> Various, 1984-2009, Lincolnshire History and Archaeology (SERIAL - PERIODICALS, ANNUAL REPORTS, MONOGRAPH SE). SLS4833.

Sources and further reading

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