Bere Barton, Bere Ferrers (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Byr; Beer Ferres; Beer Ferris

In the civil parish of Bere Ferrers.
In the historic county of Devonshire.
Modern Authority of Devon.
1974 county of Devon.
Medieval County of Devon.

OS Map Grid Reference: SX45936339
Latitude 50.45011° Longitude -4.17223°

Bere Barton, Bere Ferrers has been described as a certain Fortified Manor House, and also as a probable Pele Tower.

There are major building remains.

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

Description

Fortified Manor House with a licence to crenellate granted to Mathilda, widow of William Ferrars, in 1337 and to John Ferrers in 1340.

A manor house, associated with a licence to crenellate in granted in 1337. The licence was specifically granted to Matilda, the widow of William de Ferrers. This was one of only a handful of licences to crenellate granted to women. The oldest part of the present house may date back to the 14th century. The house was extended, probably in the 16th century, and the main front section was added in the mid to early 18th century. A large dairy wing was added to the right in the early 19th century. Built of limestone, granite and slate rubble with hipped slate roofs. (PastScape)

The remains of a small keep-like tower can be seen in the present Bere Barton. The former house was licensed to be crenellated or otherwise fortified in 1337. (Hoskins)

Oldest part is at rear of left-hand side consisting at present of one large room; visible on the first floor of this part, in front left- hand corner, are the remains of a stone newel stair with a garderobe adjoining under which is a shute and underground waste channel. Built onto one side of this room is a probably C16 block heated by an axial fireplace, this may originally have been a kitchen. (Listed Building Report)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1337 Aug 2 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).
A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1340 Oct 2.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1326389
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 437847.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 18856.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, Index and Amendments to Mike Salter's English Castles Books (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 6
  Higham, Robert A., 1999, 'Castles, Fortified Houses and Fortified Towns in the Middle Ages' in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W., Historical Atlas of South-West England (University of Exeter Press) p. 136-43
  Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 87 (slight)
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 64 (slight)
  Pevsner, Nikolaus and Cherry, Bridget, 1989, Buildings of England: Devon (Harmondsworth) p. 164
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 121 (possible)
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 107
  Hoskins, W.G., 1954, A New Survey of England: Devon (London: Collins) p. 276, 332
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 2 p. 22-3 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 350-1, 412, 413 online copy
  Lysons, D. and S., 1822, Magna Britannia Vol. 6 Devon p. 40 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Higham, R.A., 1988, 'Devon Castles: an annotated list' Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society Vol. 46 p. 142-9
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), 1895, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1334-38) Vol. 3 p. 558 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1900, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1340-43) Vol. 5 p. 51 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 109
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 212 online copy

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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.

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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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