East Tytherley

Description

East Tytherley manor house was an Elizabethan mansion which stood close to the church. After 1854 it remained unoccupied and was demolished after 1903 when it was found that a quantity of the materials had been used before, and upon excavating the foundations, a cellar doorway of two stop-chamfered orders, probably late 13th century, was discovered, thus to some extent confirming the local tradition that there was a manor house upon the same site in the reign of Henry III. The manorial history is traced from Domesday (VCH).
The ruins of East Tytherley manor house have been examined by a local archaeologist who writes - "The original Hall at East Tytherley evidently stood to the east of the church, the mediaeval Hall stood to the south of its site, that is to say to the south east of the church, where the ground is raised by its stone foundations for a considerable space. These foundations being below the present raised level have wrongly conveyed the suggestion of cellars...." The 'cellar doorway' "is neither more nor less than one side of the entrance of the Md. stone hall or its gatehouse... The stop and mouldings of this large entrance suggest a 14th or 15th century Hall of much importance, and this is supported by the remains of the fishponds (Suckling 1920).
The site of East Tytherley manor house is visible as a large platform now under pasture. Apart from a well and a number of freestone blocks, no trace of the building remains. A hollow 'A' (at SU 29132898), to the west of the church, possibly indicates the site of a subsidiary building (F1 VJB 24-FEB-56)
The former manor of the Columber family was granted by Edward III to Queen Philippa in 1335. In Richard IIs reign, repairs were made to the chapel, inner hall, King's Chamber and chimneys after being blown down by a wind. The manor was granted to Sir Francis Court in 1402 (HKW).
Cropmarks of the manor house and the earthworks of the formal garden are visible on aerial photographs taken in 2003. The cropmarks show most of the house including some internal divisions. A semicircular cropmark on the central southern elevation most likely relates to an entrance. To the south of the house is a formal garden consisting of two wide terraces. Access across the slopes of these is indicated by a ramp on the lower terrace slope and a light cropmark on the upper terrace slope; both of these are aligned with the southern entrance to the house. There is a wide but shallow depression to the east of the house which may also relate to a formal garden scheme. Although the house is approximately centrally placed within its plot the lower terrace does not continue much to the east of the nominally central ramp. In the field to the north of the house is a diagonal earthwork which is aligned with the track way which head north east out of East Tytherley through Greenhouse Copse. That this route represents an approach to the manor is confirmed by the depiction of two lodges either side of this track way on the 1871 Ordnance Survey map. The road through the village cut through this approach to the house and left the lodges isolated on the eastern side of the road (APs). (PastScape)

Comments

Small, but not insignificant, manor house with deer park, usually granted out to sub-tenants. However granted by Edward III in 1335 to Queen Philippa. Although not much used as a royal residence was apparently a retreat for the queen during the Black Death. The 1335 grant, part of a grant of several manors suggests the manor was intended to provide an income for the queen, rather than a residence. The use of this as a residence may have been entirely a response to the Black Death and the need to find an isolated retreat. In poor repair by late C14.