Sudbury Court (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Harrow

In the civil parish of Wembley.
In the historic county of London and Middlesex.
Modern Authority of London Borough of Brent.
1974 county of Greater London.
Medieval County of Middlesex.

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ16318632
Latitude 51.56372° Longitude -0.32332°

Sudbury Court has been described as a probable Palace.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Residence of Archbishops of Canterbury. It was here that Thomas Becket resided during his banishment from Court. Probably site was Sudbury Court Farm demolished in 1957. Replaced by Headstone Manor as the Archbishops of Canterbury main Middlesex residence.

Sudbury manor in the Middle Ages comprised about 620 a. and a grange, which may have been the archbishop's original residence since it included a chapel. It was leased out from the late 14th century and afterwards divided into several farms, of which Sudbury Court Farm remained the most important. Although there were traces of an earlier building, the farm-house which stood on the north side of Sudbury Court Road until its demolition in 1957 dated from the late 16th or early 17th century, with additions made in the 18th century, 1842, and 1888. (VCH)

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 050691/00/00.

Books
- Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 171
  Cockburn, J.S. and Baker, T.F.T. (eds), 1971, VCH Middlesex Vol. 4 p. 203-11 online transcription
  RCHME, 1937, An inventory of the historical monuments in Middlesex (HMSO) p. 132 no. 2 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- 1957, 'Plans of Excavations 1957' Wembley History Society Journal Vol. 1 (new series)

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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.
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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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