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Documented medieval manor with a manor house and farmyard superseded by Shaw House
Leamon's study of the historic landscape of Shaw <1> defined the area which came to be called Shaw Manor as the eastern half of the 20th century parish of Shaw cum Donnington. Its southern border, separating it from Newbury, was the River Lambourn and Spout Ditch. Much documentary evidence survives for the manor, including account rolls and court rolls <2><3> and maps <4><5> and a great deal of research on Shaw was carried out at the start of the 21st century in connection with the restoration of Shaw House <6-11>.
The exact location of the manor house has not been verified, but it might have been within a yard depicted to the northwest of Shaw House on the 1729-30 map of Speen Manor <5>. A group of buildings appear to represent a barn, stables and a farmhouse, with a possible gatehouse at the south next to Shaw church <5>. The stable yard complex seems likely to have been retained from an earlier era when Shaw House was built in 1581 <10>, but it was swept away in probably in the mid to late 19th century under changes made by Henry Eyre. The farmyard and stable were moved to two other locations, and a Wilderness garden was laid out to the west of the Shaw House. This site would now lie beneath the 1960s Astley building, part of Shaw House School (renamed Trinity School), and no archaeological work was carried out during the block's construction.
A project investigating economic and social change during the transition from the late medieval to early modern periods <18> included manorial records from Shaw as one of its sources of data. The manor of Shaw was acquired as part of the foundations endowments of Winchester College on behalf of William of Wykeham in 1404 <19>. It was held by the college until 1543 when it was exchanged with Henry VIII who held it until 1552; it was sold to the Newbury clothier Thomas Dolman 1554 <18>.
| <01> | Leamon, R. 1992. Historic Landscape of Shaw - A West Berkshire Manor. 2021 WBC Network. p31. [Unpublished document / SWB12703] |
| <02> | Newbury District Field Club. 1931. TRANS NEWBURY DISTRICT FIELD CLUB 1931 VOL 6 NO 2. p70-80 A Berkshire Manor at the Close of the Middle Ages (Shaw) by L Clare Latham. [Article in serial / SWB10576] |
| <03> | Newbury District Field Club. 1939. TRANS NEWBURY DISTRICT FIELD CLUB 1939 VOL 8 NO 2. P129-135 Accounts of Shaw Manor, transcribed from MS Rolls.. by L Clare Latham.. [Article in serial / SWB10529] |
| <04> | Harvey, John H. 1979. Huntia 3 (3) - A map of Shaw, Berkshire, England, of ca. 1528-29. [Article in serial / SWB13915] |
| <05> | Commissioned by the Duke of Chandos. 1729/30. Map of Speen Manor. Marked but not named. [Map / SWB12939] |
| <06> | Latham, S and Yarham, V. 2003. Shaw House, Newbury, Berkshire - Reassessment of Historical Sources, Illustrations. [Unpublished document / SWB14267] |
| <07> | Latham, S. 2003. Shaw House, Newbury, Berkshire - The Gardens: Historical Analysis and Survey Report. p37. [Unpublished document / SWB14268] |
| <08> | Latham, S. 2003. Shaw House, Newbury, Berkshire - The Gardens: Historical Analysis and Survey Report. Illustrations. [Unpublished document / SWB14269] |
| <09> | Cooke, J and Heward, J. 2003. Shaw House, Newbury, Berkshire - Survey Drawings of the house. [Unpublished document / SWB14270] |
| <10> | Heward, J and Latham, S. 2003. Shaw House, Newbury, Berkshire - Map Regression Exercise. [Unpublished document / SWB14271] |
| <11> | Heward, J and Yarham, V. 2003. Shaw House, Newbury, Berkshire - Analysis and proposals for further work. [Unpublished document / SWB14272] |
| <12> | Gray, E W (ed)?. pre 1839. The History and Antiquities of Newbury and its Environs. p173 Illust. [Monograph / SWB11182]
https://archive.org/details/historyandantiq00unkngoog (Accessed 16/07/2019) |
| <13> | Newbury District Field Club. 1875-86. TRANS NEWBURY DISTRICT FIELD CLUB 1875-86 VOL 3. pp141-145 in Excursion to Shaw House, Thatcham, Bucklebury and Marlstone, June 29th, 1881. [Article in serial / SWB11187] |
| <14> | Page and Ditchfield (eds). 1924. Victoria County History (VCH) Berks IV 1924. Vol 4. p88-90. [Monograph / SWB10281]
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4 (Accessed 24/09/2015) |
| <15> | Newbury District Field Club. 1937. TRANS NEWBURY DISTRICT FIELD CLUB 1937 VOL 7 NO 4. p217-8 Notes on Alterations to the House (Shaw) since its Building by Thomas Dolman in 1581. [Article in serial / SWB10479] |
| <16> | Morris, W A D. 1969. A History of the Parish of Shaw-cum-Donnington. [Monograph / SWB12974] |
| <17> | Latham, S and Yarham, V. 2003. Shaw House, Newbury, Berkshire - Reassessment of Historical Sources. p12. [Unpublished document / SWB14266] |
| <18> | Yates, M. 2007. Town and countryside in western Berkshire, c1327-c1600: social and economic change. [Monograph / SWB147740] |
| <19> | ?Hasard, Rev John. c1528-9. Map of Shaw Heath, Berkshire. Paper. [Map / SWB13914] |
| <20> | Historic England (previously English Heritage). 1987. Register of Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England. Shaw House. [Unpublished document / SWB12616] |
| <21> | Thames Valley Archaeological Services. 2015. Trinity School Library, Love Lane, Shaw, Newbury, West Berkshire - Archaeological Watching Brief. Report 15/125. 2016 WBC Network. 10.5284/1082475. [Unpublished document / SWB149052]
http://tvas.co.uk/reports/pdf/TSN15-125wb.pdf (Accessed on 29/06/2020) |
| EWB112 | Shaw House Geophysical Survey 1999 (Ref: SHS99) |
| EWB113 | Shaw House (Permanent Buildings) 1999 (Ref: SHS99) |
| EWB114 | Shaw House (Temporary classrooms) 1999 (Ref: SHS99) |
| EWB169 | Mousefield Farm - survey of the historic landscape (Ref: CEASC 1099/AMH/NAY) |
| EWB669 | Historic Landscape of Shaw - A West Berkshire Manor |
| EWB740 | An Archaeological Investigation of Shaw House & Gardens, Shaw-cum-Donnington, Berkshire 2003 |
| EWB1513 | Trinity School Library, Love Lane, Shaw, Newbury, West Berkshire - Archaeological Watching Brief (Ref: Site Code TSN15/125) |