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Designations

• Listed Building (II*) 1194482: EWELME MANOR
• Scheduled Monument () 1006320: Site of Manor House and Royal Palace

Monument Type(s):

• MANOR HOUSE (Built, Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• PALACE (Built, Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Summary

Part of Ewelme Palace, now house, c.1450 with late C18th fenestration and wing to rear left

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds:

Description

SU6491 EWELME HIGH STREET
(South side)
8/104 Ewelme Manor
28/07/63 II*
Part of Ewelme Palace, now house. c.1450 with late C18 fenestration and wing to rear left. Red brick; old plain-tile roof; brick lateral stacks to rear. 2 storeys, 3-window range. 6-panel door with fan-light to C19 red brick porch to centre. 16-pane sashes to all openings. Right return: 2 storeys and attic, angled buttresses to corners. 20-pane sashes to ground and first floor, 4-pane sash to attic gable. Interior: Arch-braced collar-truss roof with sharply curved wind-braces. Last surviving fragment of Chaucer's ancestral home. Enlarged after the marriage of Alice Chaucer to William de la Pole (Earl of Suffolk) in 1430. Described by Leland in 1542, "The base court of it is fair and is builded with brick and timber. The inner part of the house is set within a fair moat and is builded richly of brick and stone. The hall of it is fair and hath great bars of iron over thwart it instead of gross-beads." What is now the Manor was part of a self-contained range for the accommodation of guests or retainers. Shown in an engraving by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck of 1729. Truncated and remodelled in 1787.
(Malcolm Airs "Ewelme" Archaelogical Journal, Vol.135, 1975, pp.275-280; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, p.600).
Listing NGR: SU6438391449
2) In 1540 Ewelme was declared to be an Honour, and as such the centre of the royal estates in SE Oxon. Mansion in decay by 1609. Present manor house (Ewelme Manor) includes part of Ewelme Palace but post medieval building is not included in scheduling. It had consisted of a great hall, two suites of ? chambers, a 'chamber of estate', bedchamber, chapel, gatehouse, stables and two large ranges of buildings around a courtyard. The whole was surrounded by a moat. The only remains of all this are incorporated in the existing manor house and include a 15th c. arch-braced roof. There is no sign of the moat, but the scheduled area is covered with mounds and depressions
3) Classified as magnate's residence (medieval) for MPP
7-10) Transferred to oxon History Centre.
8) Spokes photo transferred to Oxon Studies (SVL, 27/05/10)
11) A visit undertaken in 1982 by J Steane, OCCM to collect brick samples led to the investigation of fields to the north-west of the manor house, the remnant of the ancestral home of the Chaucer family and palace of the Duke of Suffolk who lived there in the 1430s and 1440s.

<1> Dept of Environment/DCMS, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, South Oxon List 81: 8/104, p.35 (Index). SOX260.

<2> English Heritage, Scheduled Ancient Monuments Record, SM 163 (Scheduling record). SOX283.

<3> MPP Documents for Oxfordshire, S Lisk, 24.3.93 (Index). SOX259.

<4> Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1974, The Buildings of England - Oxfordshire, p.600 (Bibliographic reference). SOX380.

<5> General reference, M Airs: "Ewelme" Archaeological Journal, Vol 135 (1975) pp.275-280 (Bibliographic reference). SOX373.

<6> General reference, History of the King's Works, Vol IV, Part 2. See extract in DRF (Bibliographic reference). SOX373.

<7> Black and White print photographs, 6 internal features taken by J M Steane (1980) (Photograph). SOX315.

<8> Photographic Archive, 1 external view from south west taken by P S Spokes in 1944. (Photograph). SOX304.

<9> Slide Cabinet, 1 external view of manor house (undated) (Photograph). SOX303.

<10> English Heritage (RCHME), 1987-1989, Historic Buildings Photographic Record Card (Photograph). SOX2063.

<11> CBA South Midlands Group, South Midlands Archaeology, CBA9 NL 13 (1983) p.68 (Serial). SOX5.

Sources

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