Monument Type(s):

• GATEHOUSE (circa, 17th century - 1600 AD to 1699 AD) + Sci.Date

Summary

A circa 1600 gatehouse, which is protected by Grade II* Listing.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA3385 - 1991 Archaeological porosity test pits at Langley Gatehouse by SCCAS
• ESA3386 - 1993 WB on soakaway installation during renovation of Langley Gatehouse by SCCAS
• ESA5628 - 1992 Excavations in connection with renovation at Langley Gatehouse by SCCAS
• ESA5682 - 1987 Structural survey and excavations at Langley Gatehouse, Shropshire by BUFAU
• ESA5684 - 1992 Building analysis of Langley Gatehouse in connection with refurbishment works by CHAU
• ESA6357 - 1979-80 Site visit at Langley Hall Gatehouse by Salford University Student
• ESA6845 - 1992-93 timber sampling at Langley Gatehouse by English Heritage, Ancient Monuments Lab

Description

See also PRN 01060 <0>

Gatehouse. Circa 1600 with probably C15 core. Squared and coursed grey sandstone ground floor to south-west with grey sandstone ashlar above, roughly squared and coursed grey sandstone ground floor to south-east, and timber framed to north-east and first floor to south-east with wattle and daub, lath and plaster, and red brick infill, partly rebuilt in red brick to west; stone slate roof. 3 framed bays. 2 storeys and attic. South-west front: chamfered string course and 2 full dormers with coped parapeted gables and 2-light double-chamfered stone mullioned windows, blocked with red brick; central octagonal stone ridge stack with coping and decorative cresting, and external end stack to left has dressed grey sandstone lower part with chamfered plinth and 2 star-plan brick shafts. 4-windows to first floor; 2and 3-light double-chamfered stone mullioned windows, and small one-light window between first and second from left; large ground-floor, probably C15 pointed archway off-centre to right with continuous double chamfer; boarded door inside archway to right. North-east front: carriageway off-centre to left with chamfered and stopped wooden lintel and flanking large stone buttresses with chamfered offsets; 2 large gabled dormers with moulded barge boards, that to left has C16 three-light stone mullioned window, blocked with red brick, and that to right with exposed king post truss. Framing: close studding with middle rail; square panels with parallel diagonal struts forming lozenge patterns; possibly medieval ground-floor square-panel framing to left with cusped corner brace; first-floor above carriageway rebuilt in C18 with light framing and long straight braces. Ground-floor framing partly removed to right to form 2-bay open-fronted cartshed with part of moulded surround to former doorway at left. First-floor red brick and stone garderobe in angle of north-west end stack with lean-to stone slate roof and small chamfered square stone window with ogee head. Exposed collar and tie-beam truss with queen struts in gable end to south-east. Interior not inspected but likely to be of interest. Langley Hall was an L-shaped building standing within a moated enclosure to the north-east of the gatehouse. It was a farmhouse by 1717, still standing in 1846 but demolished in the late C19. The present Langley Hall Farmhouse (not included in this list) dates from c. 1850 and stands to the south-west of the gatehouse. There is said to have been an embattled wall adjoining the gatehouse to the north, demolished in 1961. VCH, Vol. VIII, p143; Buildings of England, p163, H. E. Forrest F. L. S., Some Old Shropshire Houses and their Owners, 1924, p p176-9; Salop Records Office, 1846 tithe map (3973/T/2) <2>

Structural survey and excavation carried out at Langley in 1987 by BUFAU in conjunction with plans to develop the derelict gatehouse on the site of Langley Hall. The site of Langley Hall lies approximately 1 mile to the south east of Acton Burnell and lies in the civil parish of Ruckley and Langley. The derelict gatehouse is all that survives of the Langley Hall complex [PRN 04504]. It stands amongst the barns and sheds of a working farm, a Victorian farmhouse and the earthworks of the moat that once surrounded the complex [PRN 01060]. The structural survey concluded that a mid to late 15th century timber-framed gatehouse or keeper’s lodge was added to a possibly late 13th or 14th century sandstone curtain wall. This basic structure was enlarged in the 16th century and again in 1620 when a stone façade was added to the frontage, a stone arch erected in the entrance way. <5>

Archaeological excavation of porosity test pits in the vicinity of the site of Langley Hall and its gatehouse in conjunction with proposals to install soakaways on the site carried out in 1991. Pit A and B demonstrate significant archaeological deposits survived possibly relating to the demolished Hall and its associated features at some points as little as 0.1 m below ground level. <6>

Structural survey and photographic survey carried out at Langley in 1992 by CHAU in conjunction with a programme of repairs and development by the Landmark Trust for the derelict gatehouse on the site of Langley Hall. Despite its apparent complexity, the surviving gatehouse is a composite building consisting of 2 storeys with 2 attics. The roof is plain gabled with 2 gabled cross-roofs. One octagonal chimney rises just off centre of the ridge towards the middle of the building and a 2 paired star-sectioned brick chimneys with caps on a projecting stack are located at the north end of the building. <7>

Archaeological excavation carried out by SCCAS in 1992, in conjunction with a programme of repairs and development by the Landmark Trust for the derelict gatehouse on the site of Langley Hall. The excavations demonstrated that features and deposits relating to the occupation of the site from the early medieval period onwards did survive, despite more recent quarrying and landscaping of the site. They included foundation remains of part of the hall building, together with associated occupation deposits within the area of its courtyard. The northern limit of the medieval courtyard was marked by the foundations of the curtain wall, the western stretch of which survives incorporated within the gatehouse. Beyond the northern curtain wall a moat could be traced. <8>

Archaeological watching brief carried out by SCCAS in 1993, in conjunction with a programme of repairs and development by the Landmark Trust for the derelict gatehouse on the site of Langley Hall. The only significant deposits identified were two yard surfaces outside the east face of the north cell of the gatehouse. Both of them had been noted and recorded during earlier SCCAS monitoring of the site. <9>

A site visit was undertaken to the Gatehouse at Langley Hall, c.1979-1980 by a student at the University of Salford, investigating the problems involved in the repair and conservation of country houses. Includes a number of condition photographs and drawings. At that time the DoE were pursuing purchase of the property. <11>

Dendrochronological analysis of eight samples removed during renovation work at Langley Gatehouse indicated that post-medieval timbers had been felled in the winter of AD1606/7. A tree-ring chronology spanning the period AD 1491-1600 was also produced. <12>

Part stone, part timber-framed but basically of two building phases. To the first belongs the stone archway and the masonry on either side of it. The rear presents a timber-framed façade, much of which is later. NE and SW elevations, NW and SE gables, Ground and first floor plans. <13>

Photographs taken in January 2019. <14>

Shropshire Archives hold a watercolour of Langley Gatehouse (Reference 6001/372/1/104), by Reverend Edward Williams, dated to 1789. A small-scale thumbnail can be found via their online catalogue: https://www.shropshirearchives.org.uk/collections/getrecord/CCA_X6001_19_372A_104 <15>

Sources

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