Henley on Thames Town Wall (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Henley on Thames.
In the historic county of Oxfordshire.
Modern Authority of Oxfordshire.
1974 county of Oxfordshire.
Medieval County of Oxfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU762826
Latitude 51.53782° Longitude -0.90193°

Henley on Thames Town Wall has been described as a probable Urban Defence.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Medieval town defences of Gates only, position unknown, circumstantial documentary evidence, no archaeological evidence. (Bond)

Town defences at Henley on Thames were first documented in 1397 and last mentioned in 1531.
Henley-on-Thames "Although no traces of walls are now to be seen, there is abundant evidence that the town was once protected by them." The Corporation Deeds contain a number of references to them, most of which describe the position of various properties using phrases such as "above the walls", "at the walls," near the walls," etc. The first such entry occurs in 1397 and the last in 1531. {Note the significantly named feature "Town Ditch" on O.S 25", centred at SU 75988245 The O.N.B. merely calls it "a drain extending 4 chains from Gas Works"} (Burn 1861). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 245335.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 2211.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 157 (slight)
  Townley, Simon, 2009, Henley-on-Thames town, trade and river (The History Press for VCH)
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 258
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  Burn, J.S., 1861, History of Henley-on-Thames p. 11-12
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86

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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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