West Stow Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Westow Hall

In the civil parish of West Stow.
In the historic county of Suffolk.
Modern Authority of Suffolk.
1974 county of Suffolk.
Medieval County of Suffolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL81617087
Latitude 52.30592° Longitude 0.66218°

West Stow Hall has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Remains of an early C16 moated house and gatehouse. The brick-built gatehouse dates from the 1520s. It is three storeyed with polygonal turrets and was originally detached from the house, standing on the opposite side of the moat. In the late C16, the two were linked by a brick colonnade, which forms a base for a timber framed superstructure. Only three bays of the early C16 house survive. Documentary sources suggest that this house was quadrangular in plan, set around a central courtyard. The present house was in use as a farmhouse in 1813 and was altered during the early C19. During this work a number of Elizabethan wall paintings were uncovered on the eastern side of the chimney stack within the gatehouse. The moat pre-dates C16 house, having formerly surrounded a medieval house on the same site. No trace of this building survives. (PastScape)

The gatehouse of the 1520s has 2 gunports. (Kenyon, 1977)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1031269
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 382835.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) WSW 047.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- West Stow Hall
Books
- Cooper, Nicholas, 1999, Houses of the Gentry, 1480-1680 (Yale University Press) p. 64
  Sandon, Eric, 1977, Suffolk Houses p. 213-5
  Pevsner, N., 1961, Buildings of England: Suffolk (London, Penguin) p. 448
Periodical Articles
- Paine, C. (ed), 1999, 'Excursions 1998' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol. 39.3 p. 403-9 online copy
  Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 138 p. 227
  Kenyon, J.R., 1977, 'Early Gunports' Fort Vol. 4 p. 85
  Tymms, S., 1859, 'West Stow Hall' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol. 2. p. 148-150 online copy

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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.

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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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