Aston Mullins (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Aston Bernard

In the civil parish of Dinton With Ford And Upton.
In the historic county of Buckinghamshire.
Modern Authority of Buckinghamshire.
1974 county of Buckinghamshire.
Medieval County of Buckinghamshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP76120875
Latitude 51.77214° Longitude -0.89566°

Aston Mullins has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

John Moleyns is said to have been granted a licence to crenellate Aston Mullins, Bucks in 1336. However Gatehouse can not find this in the rolls. Aston Mullins is a DMV, with at least one building platform still extant.

A sub-circular, waterfilled, homestead moat, centred at SP 7630 0875, has an average overall diameter of 120.0m, the moat arms being 8.0 to 10.0m in width. To the S the moat is set into the slight hill slope upon which it is situated, whilst around the N side is a broad retaining bank, 12.0m wide, 1.5m in height. Water was fed in from the E side via a short right-angled projection off the main moat and escaped to the river from the NW side. The interior is under permanent pasture and no trace of building is to be seen. 100.0m to the W, at SP 7612 0875 is a small moated rectangular enclosure, 45.0m by 30.0m. The NE and SE arms are waterfilled and are separated by remains of an original (? formerly causewayed) entrance. The NW and SW arms are indicated by marshy depressions. Water was fed from the stream at the N corner. There is a small retaining bank against the NE arm of the moat. The feature may have been an unusual form of fishponds. (PastScape ref. F1 ASP 21-FEB-72)

The final conveyance took place in 1315, and Sir John held it until his death before 1328–9. His widow Gille married Sir John de Molyns, and the latter acquired the manor of Aston Mullins from John the son and heir of Sir John Blacket. De Molyns obtained further security in this manor by releases of their respective rights from John Fitz Bernard and Giles and Isabel Blacket. Various letters patent and charters from the king were also obtained, one amongst them granting leave to Sir John de Molyns and his wife to embattle the house at Aston Mullins. (VCH)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1336 March 18 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1006935, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number bu118
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 342539.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 0018000000.

Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 211
  RCHME, 1912, An inventory of the historical monuments in Buckinghamshire Vol. 1 (south) p. 125 online copy
  Page, Wm (ed), 1908, VCH Buckinghamshire Vol. 2 p. 274-6 online transcription
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), 1912, Calendar of Charter Rolls Edward III 1327-1341 Vol. 4. (HMSO) p. 353-4 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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