Beaudesert Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Beudesert; Boudezworth

In the civil parish of Longdon.
In the historic county of Staffordshire.
Modern Authority of Staffordshire.
1974 county of Staffordshire.
Medieval County of Staffordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK05491331
Latitude 52.71758° Longitude -1.92002°

Beaudesert Hall has been described as a probable Palace, and also as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are uncertain remains.

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

Description

Castle listed by Harvey as in Staffordshire.

Country house remains. Late C15 core remodelled and extended circa 1600 with further alterations of the C19; dismantled circa 1932. The C15 work is in sandstone ashlar and the later additions in red brick with ashlar dressings. The principal fragment is the south wall of the medieval great hall. It has a chamfered plinth and set high up in the wall are 3 large late C15 transomed windows with 4 upper and 4 lower lights, square heads and Tudor rere-arches. Between the central and left hand windows is an external chimney stack of circa 1600. Towards the west end of wall is a Tudor arch doorway of circa 1600 with ovolo-moulded surround and drips tone and a cyma recta moulded cornice hood. On the inside (north) of the wall to the left of the doorway is a vertical groove in the stonework, which may have taken a screen. There are 2 more large fragments of the house to the north of the great hall, both of brick, one C17 and the other C19. (Listed Building Report)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1306 Sept 16 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Comments

Gatehouse believes Harvey's castle must be the bishops hunting lodge Beaudesert Hall which received a licence to crenellate in 1306. The current ruins are of a late C15 house and may represent a new site the original bishops house may have been a rebuild of the C11-C12 Royal hunting lodge at Cannock, possibly within Castle Ring or at Radmoor, although it was said that parts of this house date back to time of William Rufus (White). Thompson writes "Bishop Langton received, in 1306, a licence to crenellate Beaudesert, Staffs and Ashby, Northants and all episocopal palaces in England."

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1248669
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 304716.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 50414; 04215.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Staffordshire Past-Track for old photographs and drawings.
Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 363, 409-11
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 167, 173
  Pevsner, N., 1974, Buildings of England: Staffordshire (London, Penguin) p. 67
  Greenslade, M.W. (ed), 1970, VCH Staffordshire Vol. 3 p. 22-3
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 405 online copy
  White, William, 1851, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire (Sheffield)
  Shaw, Stebbing, 1798, The History and Antiquities of Staffordshire (J.Nichols abd Son) (Republished 1976 by EP Publishing) Vol. 1 p. 221
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), 1898, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward I (1301-1307) Vol. 4 p. 462 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 444
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 5 p. 22 online copy
  Celia Fiennes, 1888, Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press) Vision of Britain online transcription
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Payne, Naomi, 2003, The medieval residences of the bishops of Bath and Wells, and Salisbury (PhD Thesis University of Bristol) Appendix B: List of Medieval Bishop's Palaces in England and Wales (available via EThOS)

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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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*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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