Welsh Bicknor Courtfield (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Welsh Bicknor.
In the historic county of Herefordshire.
Modern Authority of Herefordshire.
1974 county of Hereford and Worcester.
Medieval County of Monmouthshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO59731747
Latitude 51.85440° Longitude -2.58605°

Welsh Bicknor Courtfield has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Description

King writes of Courtfield 'Nothing known of castle mentioned by Moore' which is also listed by Harvey. Courtfield House is at the ref given. SMR record (no 33643) reads "What is called the Mansion was built in 1805 on the site of an older house, by William and Teresa Vaughan. There are two blocks to the north and south which are earlier. Henry V was said to have been nursed here, possibly by Lady Margaret Montague. A church was built in C19 which destroyed part of the earlier buildings." This is in a naturally strongly defended loop of the River Wye and is almost certainly the site meant by Moore. It is clearly a high status medieval site and, therefore, probably had some fortification. There is also an extremely large mound at SO591181. Of which SMR writes "From geology maps likely to be natural. Does Cwrt name mean it has been used after." (SMR no 10671).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1179390
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 33643; 10671.

Books
- King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 213 (possible)
  RCHME, 1931, An inventory of the historical monuments in Herefordshire Vol. 1: south-west p. 248 online transcription
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Moore, James, 1798, List of the Principal Castles and Monasteries in Great Britain (London) p. 17 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Archaeological Research Section Woolhope NFC, 1999, Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 70, 32-33

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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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