Monument Type(s):

• MANOR HOUSE? (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• TITHE BARN (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• PARLIAMENT HOUSE? (13th century - 1283 AD to 1283 AD)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: Traditionally the site of the first Parliament in 1283, the Acton Burnell tithe barn forms part of one of the county's finest and most substantial medieval moated manor complexes.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA278 - 1971 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA279 - 1968 field observation by English Heritage
• ESA280 - 1986 field observation by English Heritage

Description

The remains of the building known as the "Parliament House" or "House of Commons" consist of two gable ends 40ft wide and 157 apart. it is traditionally the building in which the Statute of Acton Burnell was passed in 1283, when Edward I summoned his parliament there, and although usually spoken of as a barn, and described by Andrews as a tithe barn belonging to the manor of Shrewsbury Abbey, it may have been a domestic building, possibly the forerunner of the adjoining manor-house built in 1284. (SA 287) <1a><1b><1c>

The great barn may well indicate the position of the earlier manor house, though the surviving masonry is not older than the time of Robert Burnell (the builder of Acton Burnell Castle [PRN 00287] in 1284) <4>

CMHTS Report: repeats the suggestion of [<3a>] that the structure may have been the forerunner of the adjoining manor house <10>

Scheduling revised in 1997, at which point incorporated with Acton Burnell Castle [PRN 00287]. Relevant parts of Scheduling description: ->

->The manor of Acton is first mentioned in Domesday, and a century later it was held by William Burnell, whose descendant Robert was responsible for the construction of many of the standing features. Robert Burnell served as secretary to Edward I, as Chancellor of England and Bishop of Bath and Wells, and was one of the most influential and powerful men of his time. He was granted a licence by the king to crenellate and fortify a property at Acton Burnell in 1284, and work began on the site around this date, replacing the earlier house in which Robert was born ..St Mary's Church, Burnell's chamber block, and the tithe barn, all lie on a roughly rectangular platform which is orientated WSW to ENE along the slope. Overall the platform measures c.250m long by over 138m wide ..The surviving remains of the chamber block show it was designed as the main dwelling for the Chancellor and his household. However, an establishment of this status would have provided housing for manorial officials, guests and attendants, as well as domestic provisions such as stables, barns and a brew house. Of these, the only remains standing above ground are the ruins of a large tithe barn, which stand some 100m north east of the manor. The two gable ends of the barn survive to their full height, and evidence for the side elevations will survive below ground. The gables would have formed the north and south ends of a substantial aisled building, 50m long by 13m wide. This barn is, by tradition, the place where in 1283 Parliament sat for the first time <11>

Photographed during aerial photographic survey in 2009. <13>

Ground photographs taken by D. Woodhouse, SC Trees Team, in November 2017. <14>

Shropshire Archives hold a watercolour of the Parliament Barn, Acton Burnell (Reference 6001/372/1/76), 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_76 <15>

Series of further references given by the NRHE, but without full biographic references [no further information available]:
Acton Burnell Castle, Shropshire 1981 by Jeffrey West
Acton Burnell and its church 1974 by John Salmon
Acton Burnell Castle: masterplan 1st draft 1991 by Camilla Beresford. <16>

Sources

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