Udimore Court Lodge (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Udymer; Udymere

In the civil parish of Udimore.
In the historic county of Sussex.
Modern Authority of East Sussex.
1974 county of East Sussex.
Medieval County of Sussex (Rape of Hastings).

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ86351891
Latitude 50.93942° Longitude 0.65116°

Udimore Court Lodge has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

Remains of homestead moat (dry) enclosing church and Court Lodge.
The old manor-house, Court Lodge, having been pulled down, was purchased in 1912 and re-erected at Groombridge, near Tunbridge Wells. Licence to crenellate was granted in 1479 (VCH 1937)
Only two areas of the moat that once enclosed the church and the old Court Lodge now exist. The extant area north of the church has an average depth of 1-0m with a partly dry pond within its banks. The existing area east and south of the old Court Lodge is under close scrub with an average depth of 1.0m. The former line of the moat has been overlaid by buildings and farmland. No trace exists of the original Court Lodge (F1 JRL 18-SEP-72). (East Sussex HER)

There are the remains of a dry moat which enclosed St Mary's Church and the old Court Lodge manor house. Although only two areas of the moat now exist and the Court Lodge was dismantled in 1912 and reerected at Groombridge, the site was considered to have archaeological potential. It is recorded that both Edward I and III had stayed at Court Lodge and there is potential relating to the long history of the manor estate. (Collins 2006)

Regarding the moved building - Location TQ52873777, Speldhurst CP, Kent. Grade 2-star Listed Building Number–438601: PastScape Defra ELS number–897222
House, incorporating the retainers wing from a medieval courtyard house, Unimore Manor in Sussex. Medieval wing is mid/late C15. It was dismantled transported and carefully re-erected here in 1912 with some new building in similar style. The project was organised by the local artist Lawson Wood and supervised by his architect J.D. Clarke and the historian J.E. Ray. Medieval section is timber-framed on new brick footings... The medieval range is very well-preserved and of high quality construction. (Listed Building Report)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1479 Aug 15 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Comments

Called a homestead moat by one report but clearly a significant manorial centre with a court and, on place-name evidence, a park to the west. The parish church of St Mary is certainly Norman and probably earlier in origin and the manor site is likely to be contemporary with the church. The re-erected building survives and is a mainly timber framed structure although this may only be the front range of a courtyard house. Even so it is clear the licenced house was not fortified beyond its moat.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1240325 , (As rebuilt at Speldhurst)
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 417334; 897222.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MES2539.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikimedia (Image from Lucas)
  The Weald of Kent, Surrey and Sussex (Photograph of Court Lodge, Groombridge dated c. 1910 but must be post 1912)
Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 440
  Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Sussex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 69
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 475 (possible)
  Salzman, L.F. (ed), 1937, VCH Sussex Vol. 9 p. 172-3
  Lucas, E.V., 1904, Highways and Byways in Sussex (London: MacMillian and co) p. 370, 374 online transcription
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 321-2, 422 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Blaauw, William Henry, 1861, ' Royal Licenses to Fortify Towns and Houses in Sussex' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 13 p. 104-117 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1901, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III (1476-85) p. 162 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Collins, Michelle, 2006, An Archaeological Watching Brief at Western Court Lodge, Udimore, East Sussex (Archaeology South-East 2514) (negative results in a small area of the site) online copy
  Martin, David and Barbara, 1987, Udimore Court Lodge (Report by The Rape of Hastings Architectural Survey)(Report on moved building)

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It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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