Westbury Old Ley Court (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Westubury

In the civil parish of Westbury On Severn.
In the historic county of Gloucestershire.
Modern Authority of Gloucestershire.
1974 county of Gloucestershire.
Medieval County of Gloucestershire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO74421788
Latitude 51.85889° Longitude -2.37305°

Westbury Old Ley Court has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

Aline and Robert de Sapy's share was usually known later as the manor of LEY; Robert, who was licensed in 1330 to inclose the estate and build a peel-house, died c. 1336, and his widow apparently granted the estate in 1337 to Richard Talbot, later Lord Talbot (d. 1356). ... the house called Old Ley Court in the north-east part of the parish. (VCH)

Licence for Robert de Sapy to enclose the manor of Westubury, co. Gloucester, with a fence (ligno) and to make a wooden peel-house. (CPR)

A Medieval or Post Medieval moat and nearby water channel is partially visible as earthworks on aerial photographs. The site is centred at SO 7442 1788 and comprises two sections of ditch, one of which is the probable southern side of a moat.
A rectangular block of trees, which is centred at SO 7440 1788 and measures 50m long by 36m wide, obscures the northern, eastern and western sides, and probably fills the moated site. The moat ditch measures 57m long and 9m wide. A water channel, which may have linked the moat with the Ley Brook, is situated to the east at SO 7446 1787. It measures 38m long by 9m wide and is orientated north-west / south-east. Ridge and furrow, which may be contemporary with the moated site, is situated to the west and south. (PastScape)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1330 Oct 25 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1383193.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 22872.

Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 132
  Herbert, N.M., 1976, in Elrington, C.R. and Herbert, N.M. (eds), VCH Gloucestershire Vol. 10 p. 85-6 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Rawes, B., 1978, 'A Preliminary Check List of Moated Sites in Gloucestershire' Glevensis Vol. 12 p. 37 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), 1893, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1330-34) Vol. 2 p. 11 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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