Petworth House (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Peteorde; Peteswurda; Putteworth; Petteworth

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SU97592190
Latitude 50.98821° Longitude -0.61092°

Petworth House has been described as a Palace although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are masonry footings remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Petworth House. This is the most important residence in the County of Sussex. The first building here was erected by the first Baron Percy, who was granted a licence to crenellate in 1309. Of this first building the main structure of the Chapel at the north end of the present house survives. The Wine Cellar beneath what was once the Great Hall probably dates from the C.14. The eighth Earl of Northumberland rebuilt or enlarged the house between 1576 and 1582, and the ninth or "Wisard" Earl of Northumberland again did so after 1621. (PastScape–ref. listing report)

Petworth House is 17th century on the site of and incorporating remains of the 13th century house. (PastScape–ref. Batho, 1957)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1308 Oct 4 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Comments

Location is right for early medieval manor house or castle and relatively early licence date might imply rebuilding of existing manor or castle in stone. The Percies held the manor from mid C12 and it would have had some sort of manor house from well before that date. Quite how fortified this manor or the stone mansion of the early C14 were is questionable. King calls this a possible castle site, which, in his terms, means unlikely. However almost certainly would have had some defensive features such as a gatehouse. Purchased by Henry VIII in 1535, although probably not much work done at that time, and use as a royal palace is debatable.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1225989
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 249841.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MWS2666.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- National Trust
  Britannia America's Gateway to the British Isles since 1996
  CastleUK.net
  Wikipedia entry
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 242
  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
  Thurley, Simon, 1993, The Royal Palaces of Tudor England (Yale University Press) p. 49
  Guy, John, 1984, Castles in Sussex (Phillimore) p. 98-101
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 475 (possible)
  Elwes, Dudley George Cary, 1876, A history of the Castles, Mansions, and Manors of Western Sussex (London: Longmans) p. 167-71 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 405 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Batho, Gordon, 1958, 'Notes and documents on Petworth House, 1574-1632' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 96 p. 108-34
  Batho, Gordon, 1957, 'The Percies at Petworth, 1574 - 1632' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 95 p. 1-27
  Batho, Gordon, 1956, 'The wizard earl in the tower' History Today Vol. 6.5 p. 344-51
  Hussey, C., 1947 Mar 07, 'Petworth House, Sussex' Country Life p. 422-5
  Blaauw, William Henry, 1861, 'Royal Licenses to Fortify Towns and Houses in Sussex' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 13 p. 104-117 online copy
  1857, Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 9 p. 108 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), 1894, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward II (1307-13) Vol. 1 p. 144 online copy
  Martin, M.T. (ed), 1911 for 1909, The Percy Chartulary (Surtees Society 117) passim online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Simon, Stevens, 2013, Festival of British Archaeology 2013 Community Excavation at Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex. Portslade, East Sussex (Archaeology South East Report 2013224) online copy
  Harris, R.B., Feb 2010, Petworth Historic Character Assessment Report: Sussex Extensive Urban Survey Download 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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*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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