Oaksey Manor

Description

Earthworks 'suggestive of a castle' may be identified with an early C19 description of earthworks south of Oaksey church. These comprised a square enclosure formed by a deep moat and embankment with a large mound in the north east angle, several other square enclosures and, some distance away, another mound. Aubrey in C17 mentions ruins of an old house and chapel adjoining the churchyard. Field investigation in 1968 noted that the only earthworks appeared to be small Medieval garden plots, bounded to the south and west by rig and furrow. Earthworks of a possible Medieval building platform, probable Medieval enclosure, possible Medieval field system and possible drainage system were identified on air photographs. (PastScape)

The church stood in the 12th century on the south side of Oaksey Street. The large manor house was built south of it. Only the foundations of the house remained c. 1593 and earthworks in a field marked its site in 1986.
In 1347 Humphrey, earl of Hereford, was licensed to crenellate his house in Oaksey. In the earlier 15th century the house had a hall with an east tower, a solar on the west, eight rooms on the south, and a ninth room and domestic offices on the north. Hall and tower were roofed with lead and other buildings with stone slates. The house included two chapels and a third stood within its precinct. A farmstead stood nearby. The buildings were often repaired in the 15th century, but had been demolished by c. 1593. (VCH 1991)