| Summary : A 14th century hunting lodge situated on a plateau within Queen Bower in the New Forest. The location of the lodge is indicated by earthwork banks, an external ditch and a scarp which enclose a rectangular platform measuring 55 metres north west to south east and 45 metres north east to south west. The banks are a maximu of 7 metres in width, up to 1 metre in height and define the south western, north western and north eastern sides of the platform. The south eastern edge is defined by a slight scarp. A document dated to 1428 mentions several royal lodges in the New Forest by name, including one at Queneboure, which is a clear reference to this monument. The document remarks that 'It appears that the said lodges are ruinous, and would have fallen to the ground, but for the expenditure done on them by Thomas earl of Salisbury and count of Perche, keeper of the said forest, out of his own goods'. The result was the issue of a Royal Commission to cut and sell sufficient timber to provide the necessary finance for the repair of the lodges. Contemporary sources record that between 1432 and 1440 a further 200 pounds was spent on the lodges by Richard Clyvedon, who in July 1435 was appointed clerk and surveyor of the king's works in the New Forest. Scheduled. |
More information : In 1428 a commission was issued for cutting wood in
the New Forest, selling it, and applying the proceeds to
repairing various of the King's lodges which were then ruinous
- among these being 'Queneboure'. (1)
'Queen Bower' is a well-known New Forest locality some two
miles NNW of Brockenhurst. Search there is September 1969
discovered a quadrilateral earthwork of bank and ditch, and
rather moat-like character, at SU 287 044. It is cut through by
Fletchers Water (which is post Driver's Map of 1789), and in
the cut, pieces of roofing slate were found.
The form and dimensions of the work compare closely with those
of recognised (14th c) New Forest Hunting Lodges, as at Church
Place, Ashurst, and Church Place, Denny (SU 30 NW 1 and 17);
and the slate in particular is significant, as it was
apparently the normal hunting lodge roofing material (it is
recorded that four hunting lodges of the middle 14th c were
roofed with Cornish slate - Hist. King's Works, 2, 1963, 985).
The particular slates from Queen Bower are however identified
by Professor Hodson of the Department of Geology, Southampton
University, as possibly from Delabole in Cornwall.
There seems no doubt that this earthwork marks the site of the
(probably) 14th c 'Queneboure' hunting lodge.
See survey, at 1/625. (2)
Surveyed at 1/2500. (3)
No change. Published survey correct. (4)
RCHME field investigation, 1st February 1996, found the remains as depicted on the OS 1:625 survey. A few internal scarps are also visible.(5) |