Maidstone Mote House (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Maydenstan; Shoford Maideston

In the civil parish of Maidstone.
In the historic county of Kent.
Modern Authority of Kent.
1974 county of Kent.
Medieval County of Kent.

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ78135497
Latitude 51.26605° Longitude 0.55193°

Maidstone Mote House has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are no visible remains.

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

Description

The medieval moat was not identified. The present house was almost certainly the first building to occupy the high ground overlooking the large artificial lake. Presumably a moated site would lie on the lower slopes near the river but the banks of the River Len have become overgrown and the numerous small ponds are slowly silting up. The large lake created by damming the Len is used for recreational purposes. (PastScape)

THE MOTE was an antient seat in this parish, situated about a mile eastward from the town of Maidstone, and encircled with a pleasant park. It was formerly castellated, and in the reign of Henry III. was part of the possessions of the noted family of Leyborne. In the 51st year of which Roger de Leyborne obtained the grant of a market, to be held weekly at this place on a Tuesday, and a yearly fair for three days at the feast of St. Cross. After the Leybornes were extinct here, it was become the property of John de Shofford, from whom it acquired the name of the manor of Shofford, alias Le Mote. (Hasted)

William's involvement with the sheriff and the cathedral probably explains why his house was the target of popular vindictiveness. When it was all over he may, of course, have felt that a substantial stone-built, crenellated new house (perhaps with parapets to protect the roof) would reduce the risk of arson and afford him more security in the future. But such dwellings were frequently (in fact, normally) built without any licence to crenellate. Without doubt, the function of the licence to William was to reaffirm his status and his association with the great. It was an emphatic and demonstrative response to the menu peuple who had dared to resent and attack his standing. (Coulson 1982)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1382 June 18 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Comments

Mote House is a Country house built near the site of C14 castellated manor house which was demolished circa 1800. There are no remains at Mote Park other than the listed C19 house. 'Shoford', was granted a licence, to William Topclyve, in 1382, after it had been levelled by insurgents. Hasted clearly identifies Mote House as the same as Shoford manor but, despite giving a full tenurial history, does not identify William Topclyve as holding the manor or mention the licence to crenellate. However, it is possible Hasted is incorrect and that Shoford is not the same as Mote house. The identification of it as a 'small place' (minutam placeam)in the licence enrollment adds to this possibility as Mote House was a large manor.
Leland c1540 mentions a castle in good repair, but this most probably refers to the Archbishop's palace.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1086313
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 415708.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) TQ 75 SE 288.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry for Mote Park
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Kent (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 56
  Newman, John, 1976, Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald p. 413-14
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 406 online copy
  Hasted, Edward, 1798 (2edn), The history and topographical survey of the county of Kent Vol. 4 p. 260- online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Coulson, Charles, 2007-8, 'On Crenellating, in Kent and Beyond - A Retrospection' Castle Studies Group Journal Vol. 21 p. 189-201 esp p. 197-8
  Coulson, C., 1982, 'Hierarchism in Conventual Crenellation: An Essay in the Sociology and Metaphysics of Medieval Fortification' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 26 p. 85-6 download copy
  1977, 'Investigations and Excavations during the Year' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 93 p. 222 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), 1897, Calendar of Patent Rolls Richard II (1381-85) Vol. 2 p. 132 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 250
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1909, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 4 p. 47 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2006, Mote Park, Maidstone An Historic Building Survey of the House and its Outbuildings

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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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Help is acknowledged.

*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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