Yelford (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Hardwick With Yelford.
In the historic county of Oxfordshire.
Modern Authority of Oxfordshire.
1974 county of Oxfordshire.
Medieval County of Oxfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP35980474
Latitude 51.74021° Longitude -1.48059°

Yelford has been described as a Masonry Castle but is rejected as such, and also as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

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

Description

Listed by Harvey as castle with no remains.

Yelford Manor, 'the best and certainly the most picturesque large timber-framed house in the county', (Pevsner, Oxon. 869) stands on a partly moated site some 100 m. east of the church. It was built in later C15 by Edward or John Hastings on the site of an earlier house. (VCH)

A measured survey of the timber-framed house was carried out in Spring 1984. It stands on a moated site within the earthworks of the shrunken medieval village of Yelford. The building consists of a central hall with cross-wings to north and south, probably built in the late C15 / early C16. Remains of an earlier building were revealed beneath the hall in the 1950s. Yelford Manor has been in the hands of only 2 families - the Hastings of Dalesford until 1652 and the Lenthalls of Besselsleigh until 1949. (Gilman)

The full extent of the moat has not been traced. There is no evidence that this was defensive; rather it was for drainage in a particularly wet and floodable area. (Emery)

Comments

Site of moated manor house at Yelford not apparently ever called a castle but Gatehouse assumes this is what Harvey was referring to.
Apart from possibly being moated there seems little evidence for the form of the earlier manor house at Yelford. This does seem to have been a sizeable manor and the Hastings were an important family. However, the manor seems to have been used by junior branches of the family, and Harvey's 'castle' may never have been more than a timber manor house with a moat and an association with the Hastings family (Harvey may have been thinking of William, 1st Baron Hastings who was not an owner of this house.)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1368241
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 334516.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 11977.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 208-9
  Crossley, Alan, and Currie, C.R.J. (eds), 1996, 'Yelford: Manors and other estates' VCH Oxfordshire Vol. 13 p. 205-10 (Manorial history) online transcription
  Pevsner, N. and Sherwood, J., 1974, Buildings of England: Oxfordshire (London) p. 869
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Potts, W., 1907, in Page, Wm (ed), 'Ancient Earthworks' VCH Oxfordshire Vol. 2 p. 330 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Gilman, P. 1984, 'Yelford Manor' South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 14 p. 76-77 online copy

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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.

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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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