Bradden Manor (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Bradden.
In the historic county of Northamptonshire and the Soke of Peterborough.
Modern Authority of Northamptonshire.
1974 county of Northamptonshire.
Medieval County of Northamptonshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP647486
Latitude 52.13193° Longitude -1.05618°

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

There are no visible remains.

Description

Manor house site SP 647486. A long rectangular area is partly enclosed by a bank 1.5m high and external ditch. The interior is uneven, and partly terraced suggesting a former garden. Bradden House to the south west is thought to be the site of a medieval manor of the Knights Hospitaller. These earthworks may be the site of another manor. The site was already abandoned by 1740. (PastScape)

Manor House Site (SP 647486), lies immediately N. of the church, on the side of a shallow valley, on Boulder Clay at 122 m. above OD. The present Bradden House to the S.W. is traditionally the site of a manor house of the Knights Hospitallers who held land in Bradden; the existing building certainly incorporates a late medieval structure. The earthworks described here may therefore be the site of another medieval manor house of the village.
The earthworks consist of a large rectangular area 120 m. long, bounded on the N. and E. by a bank up to 1.5 m. high with an outer ditch 0.25 m. deep, and on the S. by a scarp. There is no evidence of a W. side. The interior is uneven and has two low scarps along the N. side. In the centre of the S. side are broad rectangular terraces edged by low scarps which may be the remains of a garden. The site was already abandoned by 1740 (map in NRO) when the field was called Bury; the copse to the E. is still called Bury Brake (air photographs in NMR). (RCHME)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1477 March 5 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Comments

The RCHME does not seem to be aware of the licence to crenellate and impark 100 acres granted to John Holcot in 1477. The only evidence of the park is a possible rabbit warren at SP 643479. The likely site for Holcot's house is the manor site north of the church although it may be possible that it was at the site Bradden House (SP64624841) if this was the site of a medieval manor house. The manor seems 'after some rather complicated negotiations' to have been 'acquired in 1486 by John Mathew, alderman of London'. Depending on how long these complicated negotiations took it may be Holcot died or sold the manor before work could commence on the house or the park. However Gatehouse has not identified a reasonable tenurial history for Bradden Manor, or a biography of John Holcot, or for a relationship between the two.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 341382; 341385.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 72
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 183
  RCHME, 1982, An inventory of the historical monuments in the County of Northampton Vol. 4: South-west Northamptonshire (HMSO) p. 24 online transcription
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), 1901, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III (1476-85) p. 42 online copy
  The Grant-Ives (Bradden) collection, held by the Northamptonshire Record Office, may have relevant material (see The National Archives summary page)

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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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