Hursley Park Hunting Lodge (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Logge

In the civil parish of Hursley.
In the historic county of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Modern Authority of Hampshire (City of Winchester).
1974 county of Hampshire.
Medieval County of Hampshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU42252535
Latitude 51.02597° Longitude -1.39893°

Hursley Park Hunting Lodge has been described as a probable Palace.

There are no visible remains.

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

Description

The Pipe Rolls for 1413 give an account for an expense of £8 0s 7d credited to a carpenter who 'made a new building called a logge in the park'. Although said to be in Hursley Park, being dated 1413, the hunting lodge would have been in Merdon medieval deer park. The location of the Parker's Lodge mentioned in 1413 as being on the site of the present Hursley House has been questioned. A 1588 map shows 'the lodge' just outside the south boundary, a few hundred yards to the east of the present Keeper's Lodge. This site should deserve equal consideration as the site of the late Medieval lodge. (Hampshire AHBR)

The 'great lodge' or mansion in Hursley Park was probably built by Sir Phillip Hobby some time between the Dissolution and his death (in 1558). It was demolished c. 1718 (Marsh).
Hursley House was erected in 1725 (scheduled Grade II), and opposite the south front of the house is the lawn which marks the site of the old manor house (Min. Housing & Local Govt. Prov. List scheduled buildings 1951, p.48 (Winchester R.D.)).
Hursley House, formerly Hursley Park, is a well proportioned house constructed of brick with stone details. (For the S. front see photograph AO/61/123/7). Mr Warren, caretaker-engineer, gave confirmation of the present name, Hursley House.
The site of the 16th c. Lodge, at SU 4225 2535 is faintly visible from the ground as parched cropmarks. From the roof of Hursley House, however, the cropmarks were well defined at the time of investigation. The rectangular site, measuring 25.0 m. by 16.0 m. with a S.S.W. aspect was subsequently traced on the ground (F1 NVQ 04-AUG-61). (PastScape 231100)

The Park of Merdon Castle, now Hursley Park, enclosed by banks and including fishponds, extends south of the Castle 1 1/2 miles x 3/4 mile wide.
A considerable part of the medieval pale of Merdon Castle or Hursley Park survives.
In its present condition the bank averages 6.0 m. wide and 1.0 m. high with an inner ditch 4.0 m wide and 0.3 m deep. A fragmentary and additional outer ditch is confined to the western side of the enclosure (F1 NVQ 28-JUL-61). (PastScape 231092)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1350548
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 231100; 231092 (Deer Park).
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 53659; MWC4483.

Books
- Peach, D.L., 1972, Merdone, The History of Hursley Park (Winchester: IBM UK Laboratories)
  Page, Wm (ed), 1908, VCH Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Vol. 3 p. 417-22 online transcription
  Marsh, John, 1808, Memoranda of the Parishes of Hursley and North Baddesley, in the County of Southampton p. 5-23 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Currie, C. and Wade, S., 2004, Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Newsletter No. 42 p. 14-15 (a follow up piece - Currie, C., 2005, 'Chandler's Ford, Hiltingbury Lake and the Hursley map of 1588' Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Newsletter No. 43, with a reproduction of the plan is online
  Roberts, E., 1986, 'The Bishop of Winchester's Deer Parks in Hampshire, 1150-1400: their Development, Function and Management' Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Vol. 42 p. 137

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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.

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.
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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