Hockliffe Manor (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Hockliffe.
In the historic county of Bedfordshire.
Modern Authority of Bedfordshire.
1974 county of Bedfordshire.
Medieval County of Bedfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP96612684
Latitude 51.93189° Longitude -0.59540°

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

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Moated site which lies approximately 100m to the south of the parish Church of St Nicholas, which is detached from the modern village of Hockliffe. The monument consists of a small sub-rectangular moated enclosure set within a square platform which projects from the natural slope of the hillside. The platform is adjacent, on the north, west, and south, to a series of further building platforms and closes which provide evidence of an associated settlement. The hillside to the south west of the of the building platforms and the moated site retains evidence of former cultivation earthworks (ridge and furrow) related to the occupation of the settlement. A section excavated in 1909 across the ditch surrounding the central island produced pottery and a number of metal objects dated to the medieval period. The moated site can be identified as a messuage (dwelling) within the estate of Hockliffe Manor in records which date to C13. Interpreted variously as a moated manorial site, a fortified manor house or a Civil War battery. (PastScape)

Comments

Recorded as a possible castle by King who tended to use the term 'possible' for doubtful sites.
RCHME field investigator, W.D. Cocroft, argued against this being a manorial site on the bases of the ditches not being able to hold water and the lack of medieval finds. Dry ditches are by no means unknown for manorial sites and finds evidence can troublesome, particular as the site has not been properly excavated, and is adjacent to clear medieval occupation. Cocroft alternatively suggested the site as a Civil War battery on the bases of a commanding position above Watling Street (no finds evidence). The position per se could be used to argue for a fortification of any age and the location is, in fact, readily bypassed.
Appears likely as a manorial centre, with earthworks that given a military or defensive impression. Location means might have been a small castle, presumably of the probably sub-tenants the Malherbe family, but this possibility is otherwise unsupported.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1012915, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 24414
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 346491.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 10.

Books
- Petre, James Scott, 2012, The Castles of Bedfordshire (Lavenham: Lavenham Press for Shaun Tyas) p. 104 (discounted as castle)
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 17 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 8 (possible)
  Page, Wm (ed), 1912, 'Parishes: Hockliffe' VCH Bedfordshire Vol. 3 p. 383-86 (manorial history only) online transcription
  Goddard, A.R., 1904, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Doubleday, H.Arthur and Page, Wm (eds), VCH Bedfordshire Vol. 1 p. 305
Periodical Articles
- Baker, D., 1982, 'Mottes, Moats and ringworks in Bedfordshire: Beauchamp Wadmore revisited' Château Gaillard Vol. 9-10 p. 35-54

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
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.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
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