Pucklechurch Moat House

Description

The house is built of coursed limestone with pantiled and double Roman tiled roofs. This is a complex house, whose architectural history is complicated by the fact that it is a remnant of a much larger house called the Great House or Great Hall. At some unknown date a large part of the house was destroyed, possibly by fire. The hall and parlour block is the oldest portion, with enormously thick stone walls on three sides, and dates to the 14th century. In the late 16th century the medieval house was greatly enlarged and modified, the new work included the addition of a service wing, separated from the parlour block by a passage containing the staircase. In the late 17th-early 18th century the dairy and buttery chambers were modernised. Further alterations were carried out in the 18th century, this work included the parlour attic being reroofed, and at some date the roof behind the central gable was removed. The house was restored in the 1990s. Other buildings that are included in the farm complex are the late 16th-early 17th century stable, and the 17th century laundry house, cowshed and cartshed. (PastScape)

Comments

Medieval palace and park of Bishops of Bath and Wells, at Pucklechurch. Called by Leland 'a parke and a goodly lordshipe'. Payne felt it unlikely that this was a residential manor and that when using the deer park the bishops resided at Bath. However, Gatehouse feels Leland's account and archaeological evidence does support the suggestion of a residence here. Limited archaeological evaluations and watching briefs have found Roman and late Saxon remains suggesting a pre-Conquest house stood here, however, it is suggested the moat was relatively recent.
Pucklechurch is reputedly the site of a palace of the Saxon king Edmund and is recorded as the place where he was murdered in 946 (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 946). This palace, or hunting lodge, falls out of the scope of the Gatehouse gazetteer but was at ST70217664 (Scheduled monument 1004542)