Pebmarsh Manor House (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Pebmarsh.
In the historic county of Essex.
Modern Authority of Essex.
1974 county of Essex.
Medieval County of Essex.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL853334
Latitude 51.96887° Longitude 0.69639°

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

There are no visible remains.

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

Description

Fitz Rafe mansion house (presumably Rafe Hall, TL 857335) stands near a brook in Pebmarsh Street, At one end of it was an ancient chapel, and not far from it in Castle Meadow stood a castle whose remains were barely visible in 1768. (Morant; Fowler) The guide to St. John the Baptist's Church Pebmarsh states "Apparently the family of Sir William Fizralph held the Manor of Pebmarsh which is now the Post Office". This building stands at TL 85323348, 60.0m. E of where a stream crosses the village street. It is timber framed and plastered, but modernised and not outstanding. RCHM date the house to the 16th century which is confirmed by its former owner Mr. Trendall who said that it occupies the site of the former mansion. A length of flint rubble walling about 0.6m wide was uncovered in 1950 at TL 85293347 whilst digging a drain but this was not positively identified as part of the mansion or suggested castle. Castle Meadow is centred TL 85253353 , on low ground to the W of a stream and is cut by drains. No structures have been encountered here. No evidence was found to connect this site with the former rectory, now called Rafe Hall, which stands uphill 400.0m. to the east (Field Investigators Comments–F1 BHS 22-NOV-77). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1122830
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 381751.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 28660.

Books
- RCHME, 1922, An inventory of the historical monuments in Essex Vol. 3 (north-east) p. 189 no. 5 online transcription
  Morant, P., 1768, History and Antiquities of Essex Vol. 2 p. 260
Periodical Articles
- Fowler, R.C., 1923, Essex Archaeological Society Transactions Vol. 16 p. 114

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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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*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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