More information : [SU 7247 83411] GREYS COURT [G.T.] (1)
Greys Court, Rotherfield Greys.
Walter de Grey, Archbishop of York, is recorded as having bought Rotherfield from Eve de Grey about 1239 and settled it upon his brother Robert, ancestor of the Lords Grey of Rotherfield.
"Of his [the Archbishop's] great-nephew Sir Robert, who fought for Edward I in Wales, 1283, it is recorded that he complained of people breaking into his park SU 78 SW 19 [53 SE 15] at Rotherfield and stealing the deer. So a mansion of some importance must have already been in existence then." A licence to crenellate his dwelling-place at Rotherfield was granted to John de Grey in the winter of 1346. "He ....considerably amplified the Court of Rotherfield Greys. Of the great rectangular walled enclosure, its sides some 200 yards long, in which it stood, the east wall is fairly complete and may well go back to the time of the Archbishop or his brother. If so, the license to crenellate refers to the addition of towers to this enclosure, of which four survive. Those at the south-east and south-west angles are octagonal, the best preserved [being] that at the south-east incorporated in the detached Tudor building known as Bachelors' Hall. The north-east tower and a fourth, attached to the east wall, are square. The inner face of these evidently abutted on to domestic buildings.
Of a gatehouse, such as there is likely to have been, or of a great hall and the mediaeval house itself, nothing remains ...
The well-house stands on the line of the mediaeval south wall, unrelated to the dwelling-house. Beneath it is a well 228 ft. deep, which is worked by a donkey wheel, 25 ft. in diameter ... The whole structure is still in working order and the most completely preserved example of a treadmill. The well, from its position, is no doubt that of the 13th century Court.
The old stable stands near the east side of the quadrangle, where a grass-grown mound may indicate the remains of mediaeval domestic buildings."
Bachelors' Hall is "traditionally described as the chapel."
The older brick portions of the present house were probably built by Sir Francis Knollys who acquired the estate from Henry VIII in 1538. "The house stands in the western half of the Court, its three-gabled front facing east, of flint, brick, and clunch probably quarried from the mediaeval buildings." This east front was apparently added on to the Tudor work of Sir Francis Knollys probably by William Knollys c. 1600, and it may have been much larger at one time as some of it is supposed to have been destroyed in the Civil War. "The north end was certainly reconstructed of brick in the eighteenth century, perhaps implying an amputation at that point".
[AO/60/128/5-7, AO/60/129/1-4]. (2)
"Rotherfield Greys, Greys Court, Castle wall, towers and well-house". Scheduled Ancient Monument. (3)
Greys Court: full description. (4)
Greys Court, as described by the preceding authorities. At SU7257 8339 there is a ruined building, probably a 17th cent. barn. The SW and SE walls only survive constructed of flint with brick dressings. The SE wall contains three buttresses, a blocked doorway and a number of ventilation slits. (5)
Greys Court (NR)
Greys Court, including Batchelor's Hall, The Well house and towers to N.E., N.W. and S.W. of house. Grade I. C16 house standing within the remains of the outer wall of the c.14 crenellated mansion of the first Lord Grey of Rotherfield who received licence to crenellate in 1346. There had evidently been a house there before. Four towers of this date survive, octagonal at the S.E. & S.W. corners. The S.E. tower is incorporated in a C.16 house known as Batchelor's Hall. The N.E. & N.W. towers are square on plan, The Well House C.16 on the line of the south wall. Brick, diaper pattern. Old tile roof; has a donkey wheel 25' in dia. in working order.
The well 228 ft. deep is evidently that of the C13 court.
Batchelor's Hall. C.16.
South front. 2 storeys. 4 windows and central door. Brick Walls, stone surrounds to windows and door with stone label moulding over. Casements and door altered.
North front. 4 gables. 2 storeys. Flint walls, gables plastered 5 casement windows on 1st fl, 3 casement windows and door-way
on g.fl., all altered.
Stable. C.16 Brick.
The House. Part of a house built between 1540 and 1625 by Sir William Knollys and his son.
Entrance front - 3 storeys. 3 gables. Brick, flint & stone quarried from older house, 4 windows, 1 in each of the end gables and 2 in centre gable. Central doorway.
The back of the house is a jumble of C.16 work added to earlier building. There is a C.15 window in one of the gables. C.18 alterations. North end of the house rebuilt - a bow window 2 storey with castellated parapet and 3 semi-circular headed sash windows was added and the windows on this front altered to sash. The drawing room has a rococo plaster ceiling by Roberts of Oxford?. (6)
(SU 72478341). Field investigations during 1983 consisted of a photographic survey and a resistivity survey. The data from the survey indicated 2 masonary structures (with walls or buildings) and a trackway. (7) |