Perching Manor House (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Portingeres; Perting; Perthyng; Perchyng; Percinges

In the civil parish of Fulking.
In the historic county of Sussex.
Modern Authority of West Sussex.
1974 county of West Sussex.
Medieval County of Sussex (Rape of Lewes).

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ24101157
Latitude 50.88966° Longitude -0.23639°

Perching Manor House has been described as a certain Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

About 300 yards west of the village is Perching Manor House. A large farm adjoins the house, which is not very old, but the kitchen fire-place has a chamfered four-centred chimney-beam from an earlier structure. The medieval manor-house or castle of Perching stood some 300 yards west of the existing farm-house, and its site is marked by a large square mound, with traces of a moat faintly visible. The castle stood in the middle of the large field adjoining the road, which is diverted on its way from Fulking to avoid the southeast angle of the moat. The hedge on the north side of the field is similarly diverted, and marks the northern limit of the site. The two diversions show the eastern limit of the moat, which cannot otherwise be detected. The western moat, however, has not been completely filled in, and may be clearly seen as a wide shallow depression crossing the field. In dry weather the view of the site from Edburton Hill gives a perfect impression of its formation, the moats themselves being of a darker green than the surrounding field, and the upcast which formed the ramparts turning the grass to brown. There are indications of there having been a counterscarp bank to the western moat. No masonry now remains above ground, but ruins are said to have been visible within the memory of a generation ago. (VCH Vol. 7)

The site lies upon the E slopes of a ridge and is under the plough. The mound described above cannot now be recognised but the W arm of a moat, which, by reason of the slope of the ground must have been dry, runs from TQ 24061140 to TQ 24071154 and is over 26.0m in width and less than 1.0m in depth, having been much reduced and spread by the plough (Field Investigators Comments–F1 ASP 13-JUN-72). (PastScape)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1264 Feb 22 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).
A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1264 March 16.
A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1268 Feb 8.
A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1329 Jan 25.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 399350.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MWS893.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- fulking,net
Books
- Jones, R., 2003, 'Hastings to Herstmonceux: the castles of Sussex' in Rudling, D. (ed) The archaeology of Sussex to AD2000 (Great Dunham: Heritage Marketing and Publications) p. 171-8
  Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Sussex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 56
  Guy, John, 1984, Castles in Sussex (Phillimore) p. 128-9
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 474 (possible)
  Howe, F.A., 1958, A Chronicle of Edburton and Fulking in the County of Sussex (Crawley: Hubners Ltd)
  Salzman, L.F. (ed), 1940, VCH Sussex Vol. 7 p. 202 online transcription
  Elwes, Dudley George Cary, 1876, A history of the Castles, Mansions, and Manors of Western Sussex (London: Longmans) p. 86 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 402, 403, 409 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Blaauw, William Henry, 1861, 'Royal Licenses to Fortify Towns and Houses in Sussex' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 13 p. 106-7, 111 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), 1910, Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry III (1258-66) Vol. 5 p. 307 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1910, Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry III (1258-66) Vol. 5 p. 381 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1913, Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry III (1266-72) Vol. 6 p. 189 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1891, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1327-30) Vol. 1 p. 357 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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