Bescot Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Berkmondescote; Berkmendescote

In the civil parish of Walsall.
In the historic county of Staffordshire.
Modern Authority of Walsall.
1974 county of West Midlands.
Medieval County of Staffordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO99809667
Latitude 52.56777° Longitude -2.00441°

Bescot Hall has been described as a certain Fortified Manor House.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

The original manor-house was moated. Along much of the north-west side the ditch was double. It stood in what is now Pleck Park between the park entrance from Bescot Drive and the M6 motorway, which crosses the south-west corner of the moat. In 1972 the site was marked by a group of trees, the moat having been almost obliterated. The house existed by 1311 when William Hillary was besieged there by Thomas le Rous and over fifty others, and in 1345 Roger Hillary was licensed to crenellate. In at least the later C14 it contained a chapel. By 1666 the house was a substantial building taxable on fourteen hearths, and fourteen rooms are mentioned in 1672. In C18 it was demolished and rebuilt on a new site north-east of the moat on what is now the west side of Bescot Drive. The old site was laid out as a garden connected with the new house by a bridge over the moat. The bridge survived the demolition of the hall but was ruinous by 1937; it has since been removed. (VCH, 1976)

Fieldwork by SMR in conjunction with Joseph Leckie School. Half of site covered by resistivity survey; c20-30 cm of topsoil over reddish sticky clay; augered profiles show moat is filled with fly-ash & has clay base c3m down. Moat visible as shallow depression for much of its circuit. (Lang NAR et al. 1989. Survey at Bescot Hall. SMR). (Wolverhampton and Walsall HER)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1345 Feb 13 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 118786.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 2641.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Staffordshire Past-Track
Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 343
  Salter, Mike, 1997, Castles and Moated Mansions of Staffordshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 15
  Salter, Mike, 1993, Midlands Castles (Birmingham) p. 30
  Currie, C.R.J., Greenslade, M.W. and Johnson, D.A., 1976, VCH Staffordshire Vol. 17 p. 171-3 online transcription
  Lynam, Charles, 1908, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm. (ed), VCH Staffordshire Vol. 1 p. 368 (homestead moat) online copy
  Willmore, Frederic W., 1887, A history of Walsall and its neighbourhood (W.H. Robinson) p. 242 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 414 online copy
  Shaw, Stebbing, 1801, The History and Antiquities of Staffordshire (J.Nichols abd Son) (Republished 1976 by EP Publishing) Vol. 2 p. 81-2
Periodical Articles
- Larkham, P.J., 1982-3, Transactions of the South Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 24 p. 15,49
  Palliser, D.M., 1972, 'Staffordshire Castles: A Provisional List' Staffordshire Archaeology Vol. 1 p. 5-8
  Le Patourel, H.E. Jean, 1967 March, Current Archaeology vol 1 no 1 p. 31
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), 1902, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1343-45) Vol. 6 p. 438. online copy

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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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