Eaton Bray Manor (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Eitone; Eyton

In the civil parish of Eaton Bray.
In the historic county of Bedfordshire.
Modern Authority of Bedfordshire.
1974 county of Bedfordshire.
Medieval County of Bedfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP96032102
Latitude 51.87917° Longitude -0.60577°

Eaton Bray Manor has been described as a certain Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Earthwork remains of a moated fortified manor house with associated fishponds, known from documentary evidence to have been built in 1221 and rebuilt in the reign of Henry VIII. Empty and in poor condition by 1675 but repaired circa 1692. Barns, stables and other outbuildings, including a dovecote and a malthouse were documented. Demolished in 1794 and the site cleared and turned over to pasture by 1849. (PastScape)

The castle at Eaton Bray, which followed the descent of the manor, was built in 1221 by William de Cantlowe, and is described in the Annals of Dunstable as being a serious danger (in grave periculum) to Dunstable and the neighbourhood (Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 66). In 1273 an interesting account of Eaton Bray Manor, unfortunately torn, includes the following particulars of the castle:—A manor inclosed with a wall, and moat and two drawbridges; within the principal inclosure is a hall with two chambers at the ends (capita) of the hall. The chamber beyond the pantry and buttery was covered with tiles. There is mention of a great chamber, a foreign chamber (camera forinseca), a garderobe, a house for a larder used as a kitchen because there was no kitchen, a drawbridge towards the park, a new chapel and a granary. In the other bailey, probably the outer bailey, there were stables for sixty horses, covered with tiles, a grange, cow-houses, pigsties and other outbuildings covered with straw. There were two gardens outside the inclosure, the one containing 3 roods and the other an acre. The park contained 28 acres of wood (Chan. Inq. p.m. 1 Edw. I, no. 16.). (VCH Vol. 3)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1011713, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 24418
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 346552.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 531.

Books
- Petre, James Scott, 2012, The Castles of Bedfordshire (Lavenham: Lavenham Press for Shaun Tyas) p. 102 (discounted as castle)
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 13
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 8-9
  Grundry, A.R., 1912, 'Eton Bray' in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Bedfordshire Vol. 3 p. 369-70 online transcription
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 1 p. 139 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Baker, D., 1982, 'Mottes, Moats and ringworks in Bedfordshire: Beauchamp Wadmore revisited' Château Gaillard Vol. 9-10 p. 38
  Dyer, J.F., 1963, 'Bedfordshire Earthworks X, Moated Homesteads' Bedfordshire magazine Vol. 9 no. 65 p. 10
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Luard, H.R (ed), 1866, 'Annales Prioratus de Dunstaplia' in Annales Monastici (Rolls Series 36) Vol. 3 p. 66 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1906, Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Edward I Vol. 2 p. 17 No. 17 online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
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