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Summary

Medieval moated manor house, rebuilt and enlarged in the 15th century, the property of Cardinal Wolsey in the 16th, and ruinous by 1598

Monument Types

• MANOR HOUSE (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• PALACE (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Events

• Evaluation at Northwood Preparatory School, Moor Park, 1999 (Ref: HN253)
• Evaluation at Northwood Preparatory School (Manor of the More), Northwood, 2012

Protected Status

• Scheduled Ancient Monument 29381: THE MANOR OF THE MORE

Full description

A medieval moated manor house which stood c.120m north-west of Northwood Preparatory School, in the present playing fields; for the manorial site see [829], and the moats, [826]. The 14th century house found in 1954 <2> was apparently a small and undistinguished manor house, of timber with stone or tile. In 1426 a much larger house was built by William Flete, merchant of London, and Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester. They had obtained a royal licence to 'enclose, crenellate, enturret and embattle with stones, lime and brick, their Manor of More in Rickmersworth and also to empark 600 acres of land'. In 1469 it was altered and enlarged by George Neville, archbishop of York; it was seized by Edward IV in 1472. The house and grounds were again altered and enlarged by Thomas Wolsey after he became Abbot of St Albans in 1521. In 1525 the Treaty of the More (between England and France) was signed here. On Wolsey's fall the manor came into Henry VIII's possession. By 1598 the house was ruinous; it was still standing in 1655 but demolished shortly afterwards. The seat of the manor became Moor Park [4133], the house built on higher ground to the south in 1617 <1>.

Evaluation at Moor Farm [10920] in 1999 found a single sherd of very worn medieval pottery with a green glaze; it is most likely to be 14th-15th century <1>. <5> gives a useful summary, with plans, and results of geophysics carried out in the playing field in 2011. In the same year several large pieces of highly decorated carved stone pillars, apparently part of a high-status portal in Renaissance style, were found in scrub in the school grounds <5>. These are early 16th century, and relate to Wolsey's palace; they are the earliest examples of the Italian Renaissance style (via northern France) known in England <9>.
'The earliest water garden in Hertfordshire for which evidence has been found was at the manor of The More' <6>. This apparently incorporated the medieval moat around Wolsey's house, together with fishponds.

The house is described in the Scheduling <8> as 'amongst the most impressive of the later medieval great houses of noblemen and high churchmen, comparable in its prime with Hampton Court and other royal palaces such as Richmond'. Investigation by Time Team in 2012 <7> revealed extensive surviving remains. The plan put forward in 1959 <2> was largely confirmed. The main period of construction was 1426-1460, following the grant of a charter to crenellate in 1426. Substantial buttressed walls of the lower part of the Great Hall were revealed, with the surface of the Inner Court in front of the Great Hall, and part of the Inner Gatehouse with the semi-octagonal base of the eastern tower. The fragments of Renaissance-style columns, similar to Wolsey's extant columns at Hampton Court, may have come from this gatehouse. No definite trace was found of either the Base Court, documented to the south of the moat and Inner Court, or of the Long Gallery, to the north of the moat <7>. The massive gatehouse had evidently suffered from subsidence on the soft ground here.

For the medieval park, see [17931].

Falvey, Heather, 1992, The More: archbishop George Neville's palace in Rickmansworth, Herts; The Ricardian vol.IX no.118 (Sept 1992), 290-301 (Article in serial). SHT2491.

Falvey, Heather, 1993, The More: Rickmansworth's lost palace; Herts Past 34 (spring 1993), 3-16 (Article in serial). SHT4765.

<1> Hillelson, David, 1999, New science and technology block, Northwood Preparatory School, Moor Park, Rickmansworth, Herts. Archaeological evaluation, RNO 699 (Report). SHT4822.

<2> Biddle, Martin, Barfield, Lawrence, & Millard, Alan, 1959, The excavation of the Manor of the More, Rickmansworth, Herts; Archaeological Journal 116, 136-99 (Article in serial). SHT1655.

<3> Colvin, H M (ed.), 1982, The history of the King's works; vol.IV (1485-1660), - p164-9 (Bibliographic reference). SHT9952.

<4> Smith, J T, 1993, Hertfordshire houses: selective inventory, - p148 (Bibliographic reference). SHT16660.

<5> Mower, Jim, 2012, Proposed archaeological evaluation: the Manor of the More, Northwood, Hertfordshire, Includes drawing of portal stones (Unpublished document). SHT3735.

<6> Rowe, Anne, 2012, Hertfordshire's lost water gardens 1500-1750; IN Deborah Spring (ed.), Hertfordshire garden history vol.II: gardens pleasant, groves delicious, 31-59, - p33-8 (Article in monograph). SHT7333.

<7> Thompson, Steve, et al, 2013, The Manor of the More, Northwood, Hertfordshire: archaeological evaluation and assessment of results, RNO 3076 (Report). SHT8011.

<8> Scheduled Monument description (Scheduling record). SHT9990.

<9> Information from Martin Biddle (Verbal communication). SHT8303.

Sources and further reading

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