Titchfield Abbey (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Tychefeld; Place House, Palace House

In the civil parish of Fareham.
In the historic county of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Modern Authority of Hampshire.
1974 county of Hampshire.
Medieval County of Hampshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU54190667
Latitude 50.85688° Longitude -1.23149°

Titchfield Abbey has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are major building remains.

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

Description

Titchfield Abbey, quietly situated in the valley of the River Meon, is a fine example of a Premonstratensian monastery. The surviving structures provide a good indication of the scale and importance of the monastic buildings while the associated fishponds provide evidence for both water management and for the economic importance of fish to both monastic and later communities. The surviving elements of the 16th century mansion are an example of the secular use of a religious complex in the years following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Small scale excavations carried out in the early 20th century have clarified the layout of the focal monastic buildings. More recent excavations have shown the fishponds to have been constructed in the 13th century and to have been maintained in use after the Dissolution of the abbey in the 16th century. The main components of the monument are maintained in Guardianship and are open to the public.
The Abbey of St Mary and St John the Evangelist was founded in 1232 by Peter de Roches, Bishop of Winchester, for Premonstratensian canons. The history of the abbey was uneventful and at the suppression of the monasteries in 1537 the monastic estate passed to Thomas Wriothesley, who by 1542, had converted the monastic buildings into the residence known as 'Palace House'. This survived little altered until the greater part of it was demolished in 1781. The surviving remains of the abbey include the cloister, used in the 16th century as the courtyard of the country house, and the nave of the church which became its gatehouse. The four towers of the gatehouse form the most visually impressive element of the ruins. (Scheduling report)

Mr Wriothesley hath buildid a right stately house embatelid, and having a goodely gate, and a conducte castelid in the midle of the court of it, yn the same place wher the late monasterie of Premostratenses stoode caullyd Tichefelde. (Leland)

A royal pardon and licence to crenellate was granted in 1542 Feb 11 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1014814, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 26713
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1338890
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 234287.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 19310.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- English Heritage
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Osborne, Mike, 2011, Defending Hampshire: The Military Landscape from Prehistory to the Present (Stroud: The History Press) p. 52, 54, 245
  Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 418, 425-7, 443
  Elliot, Julia (ed), 2005, Heritage Unlocked; Guide to free sites in London and the South East (London: English Heritage) p. 82-3
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 55
  Watts, G. and Wade, R., 1989, Titchfield: a place in history (Titchfield History Society)
  Watts, G. (ed), 1982, Titchfield, A History (Titchfield History Society) p. 25-31, 77-79
  Knowles, David and Hadcock, R Neville, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Longman) p. 191-2
  Pevsner, N. and Lloyd D., 1967, Buildings of England: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (Harmondsworth) p.627-629
  Page, Wm (ed), 1908, VCH Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Vol. 3 p. 222-3 online transcription
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 323 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 138 p. 226
  Kenyon, J.R., 1977, 'Early Gunports' Fort Vol. 4 p. 84
  Currie, C.K., 1986, Medieval Archaeology Vol. 30 p. 147-8
  Hope, W.H.St. John, 1906, 'The making of place house at Titchfield, near Southampton, in 1538' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 63 p. 231-43 online copy
  Minns, G.W., 1898, 'Titchfield Abbey and Place House' Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Vol. 3.3 p. 317- 338
Guidebooks
- 2001, Titchfield Abbey, Hampshire (London: English Heritage)
  Graham, R., 1985, Titchfield Abbey, Hampshire (London; RCHME)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Gairdner, J. and Brodie, R.H. (eds), 1900, Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII Vol. 17 p. 61 No. 137.54 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 207
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 281 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk South East Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 18 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk South East Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 17 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 19 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 19 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 35 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 32 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 29 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 38 online copy
  Dave Hopkins, 2004, Extensive Urban Survey - Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (English Heritage) Download 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.
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.

Data >	PastScape	County HER	Scheduling	Listing	I. O. E.
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio