Upper Millichope Foresters Lodge (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Munslow.
In the historic county of Shropshire.
Modern Authority of Shropshire.
1974 county of Shropshire.
Medieval County of Shropshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO521893
Latitude 52.49949° Longitude -2.70702°

Upper Millichope Foresters Lodge has been described as a probable Pele Tower.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Description

House. Reputed to have been the house of the King's forester of the Long Forest. c1280, with C16 alterations and C18 extension wing. Stone rubble walls with dressed quoins and moulded plinth, 2 metres thick at the base and tapering. Brick and coursed rubble later house extension. A rectangular block with gabled ends. The gable trusses are square panelled timber-framed, with painted rendered brick infill panels and central timber mullioned window. Plain-tile roof replacing thatch in early C20. C17 integral stone rubble eaves stack on east side. EXTERIOR: north-west side partly rebuilt. Central doorway with rebuilt round-arched opening with ball-flower decoration and recessed boarded door: C20 casement to right set in moulded ashlar segmental-arched opening. North-east gable-end and south-east side each have single window in stone jambs with roll moulding and fillet, scalloped bases and capitals, with single mullion, that to the north-east with roll-moulded stone shaft, the south-east window mullion is timber. Small C13 window on north-east side at lower level. South-west gable-end: 3 staggered C13 staircase slit openings to left. 2 wood casements to ground-floor right, blocked C16 3-light wood mullion window above stone-blocked C13 opening at first-floor right (probably the original entrance). An C18 2-storey house with gabled and hipped tiled roof attached on south-east side to right: south-west face of brick on rubble plinth with brick dentil course eaves, axial brick ridge stack, 3-window range with brick segmental-arch lintels, central boarded door under slate gabled open porch; other faces of coursed rubble with flat lintel openings. All windows are C20 multi-pane casements. INTERIOR: lower floor divided with C17 partitions, C13 large-section first-floor joists reset in C17; first-floor hall with C17 square-framed partition incorporating 3 low-arched door-heads, C13 mullion windows with flanking internal seats, C13 partly blocked corner winder stair built into the wall thickness, later C17 winding stair, C17 attic floor and 3-bay triple-purlin roof. (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1383368
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 111225.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 10894.

Books
- Moran, Madge, 2003, Vernacular Buildings of Shropshire (Logaston Press) p. 3, 5, 11, 12, 353, 356, 465
  Salter, Mike, 2001 (2edn), The Castles and Moated Mansions of Shropshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 81
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 586
  Currie, C.R.J. (ed), 1998, VCH Shropshire Vol. 10 p. 151- (tenurial history) online transcription
Periodical Articles
- 1995, 'Tree-Ring Dates' Vernacular Architecture Vol. 26 p. 70, 72
  Wood, Margaret, 1950, 'Thirteenth-century Domestic Architecture in England' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 105 supplement
  Wood, M.E., 1949-50, Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society Vol. 53 p. 61-7
Guidebooks
- Moran, M. and James, D., 1986, The Forester's Lodge

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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.
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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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