Mekil Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Laund Hall; Lound Hall; Saxthorpe Castle

In the civil parish of Corpusty.
In the historic county of Norfolk.
Modern Authority of Norfolk.
1974 county of Norfolk.
Medieval County of Norfolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TG10233118
Latitude 52.83745° Longitude 1.12012°

Mekil Hall has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are masonry footings remains.

Description

Possible site of a fortified house called Mekil Hall or Laund Hall. Medieval pottery and a stretch of flint walling have been found in the field and cropmarks have been identified on aerial photographs. (PastScape)

The cropmark centred TG 10233118 occupies a slight knoll. The field is arable but apart from a considerable scatter of flint nothing significant shows. However, Mr. Jarvis (a) confirmed that this is the area in which Medieval pottery was found and that flint walling lies about 3ft down. The cropmark appears to indicate a ditched enclosure measuring some 107 metres overall NW-SE, and some 68 metres transversely; there is an entrance on the NE side and vague internal markings. The site is not a moat and in view of the documentary evidence a defended manor house seems the most likely explanation. (PastScape ref. Field Investigators Comments–F1 RD 07-JUL-80)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 132037.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 6681.

Books
- Rye, W., 1916, Castles and Manor Houses of Norfolk p. 52-3
  Blomefield, F., 1807, 'Hundred of South Erpingham: Saxthorp' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 6 p. 497-8 (tenurial history) online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Cozens-Hardy, B., 1957, Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 31 p. 174
  Blake, W.J., 1952, 'Norfolk Manorial Lords in 1316' Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 30 236-7

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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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