Ewelme Manor (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Elmes; Newelme

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SU64359149
Latitude 51.61818° Longitude -1.07141°

Ewelme Manor has been described as a probable Palace.

There are no visible remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

Part of Ewelme Palace, now house. c.1450 with late C18 fenestration and wing to rear left. Red brick; old plain-tile roof; brick lateral stacks to rear. 2 storeys, 3-window range. 6-panel door with fan-light to C19 red brick porch to centre. 16-pane sashes to all openings. Right return: 2 storeys and attic, angled buttresses to corners. 20-pane sashes to ground and first floor, 4-pane sash to attic gable. Interior: Arch-braced collar-truss roof with sharply curved wind-braces. Last surviving fragment of Chaucer's ancestral home. Enlarged after the marriage of Alice Chaucer to William de la Pole (Earl of Suffolk) in 1430. Described by Leland in 1542, "The base court of it is fair and is builded with brick and timber. The inner part of the house is set within a fair moat and is builded richly of brick and stone. The hall of it is fair and hath great bars of iron over thwart it instead of gross-beads." What is now the Manor was part of a self-contained range for the accommodation of guests or retainers. Shown in an engraving by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck of 1729. Truncated and remodelled in 1787. (Listed Building Report)

A medieval manor house and later Tudor royal manor. The 15th century court house is all that remains of Medieval manor house of the de la Poles, the Dukes or Earls of Suffolk, and earthworks of gardens are visible. The De la Poles were an inluential family with links to the house of York. The de la Poles, particularly were accused of conspiracy against the Tudor regime of Henry VII and Edmund the last de la Pole to carry the title was executed by King Henry VIII. Having seized the estate, in 1525 Henry gave it to the new Duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon, who was married to the King's sister Mary. In 1535 he claimed it back in exchange for lands elsewhere. Henry seems to have used Ewelme as a lesser private house to which he could retreat or use as a base for hunting. By the time of James I much of the house had fallen into ruins: most of the manor house was demolished in the 17th century, although a range survived until at least 1729. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1006320, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number ox163
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1194482
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 242035.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 2111.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Fords Farm
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 348, 354, 409
  Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 94-7 (plan of lodgings)
  Goodall, J.A.A., 2001, God's House at Ewelme. Life, art and devotion in a medieval almshouse (Ashgate Publishing)
  Thurley, Simon, 1993, The Royal Palaces of Tudor England (Yale University Press) p. 56, 60, 69, 170
  James, T.B., 1990, The Palaces of Medieval England (London; Seaby) p. 131
  Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1982, The history of the King's Works, Vol. 4: 1485-1660 (part 2) (London) p. 90-2
  Pevsner, N. and Sherwood, J., 1974, Buildings of England: Oxfordshire (London) p. 600
  Napier, H.A., 1858, Historical Notices of the parishes of Swyncombe and Ewelme (Oxford: privately published) p. 119
Periodical Articles
- Stearne, J. and Spencer, J., 1983, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter Vol. 13 p. 68 online copy
  Airs, M., 1978, 'Ewelme' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 135 p. 276-80
  Pantin, W.A., 1959, Medieval Archaeology Vol. 3 p. 254 download 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.)
- E178/1821 (Survey of 12 Elizabeth) The National Archives reference
  E178/4404 (Survey of 10 James I) The National Archives reference
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 361-2
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 112, 113 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Prister-Crutwell, M., Ewelme - A Romantic Village its Past and Present. Its people and its history

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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.

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.

*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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