Cassington Manor House (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Cassington.
In the historic county of Oxfordshire.
Modern Authority of Oxfordshire.
1974 county of Oxfordshire.
Medieval County of Oxfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP45581052
Latitude 51.79149° Longitude -1.34052°

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

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

William Montagu obtained licence to crenellate his manor of Cassington in 1317. The house, which stood within a moat south-east of the church, presumably decayed in the later 15th century when the lords of the manor no longer used it as an occasional residence. The site was in 1982 marked by a mound about 20 yards east of the surviving farmhouse, Reynolds Farm, a coursed rubble building of two storeys with attics. The main range, which runs north-south, has a three-room plan with a small projection on the west; it was probably built in the early 17th century. The house was extended to the north-west in the 18th century and to the north-east in the early 20th century, at about which time the roof of the old house was renewed. The cellars probably once extended further south and there may have been a room above them. The pigeon house west of the house may be of the 17th century. The earthworks of three fishponds survive in a field south of the house. The house was retained by Edmund Reynolds when he sold the rest of his Cassington estate in 1700. (VCH)

The site consists of a rectangular moated island about 60 by 40m surrounded by a ditch up to 30m wide. Reynold's Farm stands on the W edge of the area and there is a medieval dovecote on the side of the moat. The E and S arms of the moat still have streams but the W arm has been largely infilled. To the S of the moat is a group of fishponds, the largest of which is 25m wide and up to 2m deep and has been partly been infilled and is now only about 80m long. To the SE of this pond are two small fish tanks or fish-stews each 25m long and 5m wide. (Oxfordshire HER ref. Aston 1974)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1317 Sept 26 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 336754.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 3763.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry for Cassington village
Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 211
  Crossley, Alan (ed), 1990, VCH Oxfordshire Vol. 12 p. 40-4 online transcription
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 407 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Hassall, T., 1983, 'Cassington' South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 13 p. 117 online copy
  Aston, M., 1974, 'Cassington, Oxfordshire PRN3763' South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 4 p. 14-5 (plan) online copy
  Aston, M., 1972, 'Moated Sites in Oxfordshire' South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 2 p. 30 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), 1903, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward II (1317-21) Vol. 3 p. 29 online copy

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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.

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