Freshwater Manor (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Freshwater.
In the historic county of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Modern Authority of Isle of Wight.
1974 county of Isle of Wight.
Medieval County of Hampshire, Isle of Wight.

OS Map Grid Reference: SZ346873
Latitude 50.68437° Longitude -1.51025°

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

There are no visible remains.

Comments

As with many Isle of Wight parishes there were several manors in the medieval parish of Freshwater. This seems to have been the prime manor and, presumably, the manor was by the parish church at the given map reference. Freshwater, on the far west of the island, is almost an island and is natural defended by the River Yar and its associated marsh (presumably large and more of a barrier in the days before modern field drainage). The parish church and, presumed, manor house are situated at the entrance to this 'island' (a road caused 'The Causeway'). The church was mentioned in the Domesday Book and the original manor house was also, presumable, of pre-Conquest origin. The location might be described as defensive, although the location makes it an administrative focus. There is nothing, other than the licence to crenellate, to suggest the C14 manor house was a defensive structure, although it may well have had decorative battlements. The tenurial history of the manor is complex with many exchanges in the year before and after 1342. The licence most probably represents a reward for service but may have been requested as a way of securing tenure.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 439
  Page, Wm (ed), 1912, 'Parishes: Freshwater' VCH Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Vol. 5 p. 240-46 online transcription
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 413 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 Edward III (1340-43) Vol. 5 p. 396 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.

Data >
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio