Dormston Manor (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Dormeston; Bag End Farm

In the civil parish of Dormston.
In the historic county of Worcestershire.
Modern Authority of Worcestershire.
1974 county of Hereford and Worcester.
Medieval County of Worcestershire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO99015729
Latitude 52.21387° Longitude -2.01579°

Dormston Manor has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

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

Description

Bag End Farm is a late 16th century timber framed house with later additions. The building complex includes a number of listed buildings, in addition to the house, these include a barn and two dovecotes. Bag End Farm is likely to have been the medieval manor site for Dormston rather than Moat Farm. The manor house, whichever site it occupied, was granted a license to crenellate in the 14th century. It is possible, although unsubstantiated, that Tolkien wrote parts of the Hobbit whilst staying at Bag End Farm.
The features which constitute the possible moat are two ponds which, unless further evidence is found, must be considered as either fishponds or ornamental garden features. Their location and appearance would suggest that they are ornamentalised former fishponds. The first pond is situated 50 metres to the south east of the house and runs for 60 metres to the south, it is 8 metres wide. There is a possible cobbled surface leading into the north of the pond, believed to have been used for the washing of carts. 50 metres to the south west of the house is the second pond.
Although the Ordnance Survey shows this pond as 'L' shaped and a possible moat survival, the feature on the ground is not as regular as portrayed. This pond runs 40 metres southwards from which point it runs to the east the pond makes a slight loop to the north. This pond is approximately 8 metres wide. (PastScape ref. English Heritage Alternative Action Report dated 27 July 1998 by D F Russell)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1388 Feb 12 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1116743
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 118254.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) WSM07960.

Books
- Brooks, A., and Pevsner, N., 2007, The Buildings of England: Worcestershire (Yale University Press) p. 259
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 343
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 509n12 (where he writes nothing known)
  Page, Wm, Willis-Bund, J.W. (eds), 1924, 'Parishes: Dormston' VCH Worcestershire Vol. 4 p. 65-8 online transcription
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 420 online copy
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), 1900, Calendar of Patent Rolls Richard II (1385-89) Vol. 3 p. 446 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.
Help is acknowledged.

*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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