Halsham Manor (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Mass Garth

In the civil parish of Halsham.
In the historic county of Yorkshire.
Modern Authority of East Riding of Yorkshire.
1974 county of Humberside.
Medieval County of Yorkshire East Riding.

OS Map Grid Reference: TA26752780
Latitude 53.73120° Longitude -0.08012°

Halsham Manor has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

The multi-period earthworks at Halsham were visited in 1997 when the site was assessed for scheduling. The house platforms were identified as being those of Halsham manor recorded in 1294 and 1349, which is suspected as forming the core of an Anglian settlement. In 1995 the core of this area survived under pasture, unfortunately after the survey the surviving earthworks were levelled by machine and the pasture field ploughed. This is thought to have destroyed the manor house building platforms as well as the remains of any Anglian settlement. The site was therefore considered to be below the threshold for national importance and no further scheduling action was taken (English Heritage Alternative Action Report – Eric Branse-Instone, 24-JUL-1997). The location of the "Old Hall (site of)" marked on the Ordnance Survey First Edition Map of 1855 (Yorkshire Sheet 242) is enclosed on two sides by a broad ditched boundary or enclosure. This ditch is up to 12m wide and is visible over a distance of 390m. There are possible sub-divisions at TA2675 2779 and TA2678 2784 a hollow at TA26712783 and a platform at TA2677 2782. This platform may be the site of the manor house identified by Branse-Instone. (PastScape)

Comments

In Ingham's list of fortified houses although no other author seems to suggest fortification. A manor of the Constables in the C12 and close to coast so possibility of fortification on both social status and defence grounds. The air photo shows how utterly the remains, still marked on the OS map, have been destroyed. How a monument of such significance it was been considered for scheduling came to be so destroyed seems to suggest a serious weakness in the legislation designed to protect heritage. Was the land owner aware that scheduling was being considered? Was the decision to level the site a deliberate one designed to frustrate that scheduling?

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 81682.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 3484.

Books
- Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p. 25
  Allison, K.J. (ed), 1984, VCH Yorkshire: East Riding Vol. 5 p. 33
  Loughlin, Neil and Miller, Keith, 1979, A survey of archaeological sites in Humberside carried out for the Humberside Joint Archaeological Committee
  Le Patourel, H.E. Jean, 1973, The Moated Sites of Yorkshire (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series 5) p. 112-3
  Poulson, G., 1841, The History and Antiquities of the Seigniory of Holderness Vol. 2 p. 387 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), 1916, Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Edward III Vol. 9 p. 220 online copy

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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