Monument Type(s):

• MANOR HOUSE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

The demolished mansion house at High Ercall, partially excavated by Time Team in 2001.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA15 - 1991 building recording, survey and excavation at Ercall Hall by BUFAU
• ESA6105 - 2001 Geophysical Survey at High Ercall by GSB Prospection for Time Team
• ESA6108 - 2001 investigation of Ercall Hall by Time Team

Description

Trench 4 of a 1991 evaluation found a possible floor level sealing a horizon into which was cut a series of negative features that may have structural origins. Unfortunately, no dating evidence for either the floor or the features below was recovered, and the excavated area was too small to make any sense of them <1>

In 2001 a geophysical survey was carried out on the lawns of Ercall Hall south and southeast of the current house, as part of a Time Team investigation. Though the results were difficult to interpret, they did suggest the presence of wall lines and possible foundations. Later landscaping, rubble deposits, and robbed out features all masked the details, so that no clear picture of any earlier building could be obtained <2>

Time Team cut trenches in the grounds of Ercall Hall in an attempt to find the older house - which they suggest may have been connected with and functioning alongside the remaining elements of the hall until after the Civil War. The summary on their website (<3>) claims to have located the external wall of this house, along with fragments of windowed glass, but no detailed report has yet been supplied to the SMR and it is at present wholly unclear where this find was made <4>

The old hall is clearly shown east of the existing hall on John Rocque's 1746 survey of the manor of High Ercall (<5>). Traces of the medieval mansion were still visible in the 19th century; several late 18th century and 19th century illustrations show additional ranges and outbuildings on the eastern side of the hall which were presumably remains of the medieval mansion <3>

In June 2001 Time Team carried out an investigation at Ercall Hall [same event as <3>]. The excavation confirmed the site of the demolished mansion in front of the extant High Ercall Hall, although the ground plan still remains uncertain. The finds assemblages comprised mainly of 16th to 17th century material, and a large proportion of the finds from the garden came from building material during the demolition phase of Ercall Mansion Hall during the Civil War. No floor surfaces were identified apart from a possible tiled cellar floor in Trench 3, indicating the extent of destruction during demolition. Several walls were located in Trenches 7 and 10, and in Trench 12 a heavily robbed away wall, measuring 1.5m wide, was identified with a north east facing external wall surface. Much of the material overlying these features was consistent with the levelling and make up deposit seen throughout the garden. Trench 2 was opened at the base of the standing arches in the garden. The arches were constructed upon deposits of demolition rubble which form the make up and levelling deposit within the modern garden. Below this was a deposit containing mortar pieces and early bricks (16th/17th century). The arches were therefore not associated with any structures related to the extant or demolished hall; this was again confirmed by trenches 4 & 6 to the southwest which revealed no evidence of building work. It was however concluded that the arches, (architecturally dated to 1600 to 1610 [<3>]) were not in-situ, and were likely moved from elsewhere, possibly from a demolished portion of the 1620’s mansion. Pockmarks from musket fire were evident on the arches, indicating they were standing during the siege, and therefore could not have been in their present location during the Civil War. <5>

<01> Ferris Iain & Litherland Steve J, 1991, Archaeological work at Ercall Hall, High Ercall, Shropshire, in 1991 (Archaeological fieldwork report). SSA674.

<02> Gater J et al, 2002, High Ercall, Shropshire: Geophysical Survey (Geophysical survey report). SSA22871.

<03> Time Team, Time Team webpages (Webpage). SSA22898.

<04> Gathercole E Clare, 1999/ 2002, Comments by SMR compiler in SMR database (SMR comment). SSA20725.

<05> Time Team, 2001, High Ercall Hall, a civil war garrison, Shropshire: an archaeological evaluation (Archaeological fieldwork report). SSA23077.

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.