Studley Castle

Description

The royal hunting lodge at Studley, in the New Forest, survives reasonably well despite some later disturbance by subsequent tree planting and removal, and can be expected to retain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.
The monument includes a royal hunting lodge dating to the medieval period, situated in the New Forest on a south-facing spur at the north east end of Islands Thorns Enclosure. The moat surrounding the lodge survives as a shallow ditch and a low inner bank enclosing a square area, 35m across. Both the ditch and bank are 4m-5m wide and the bank stands on average 0.4m above the interior but rises slightly higher at the sharp corners. There is a possible original entrance on the east side formed by a simple causewayed gap through the ditch and bank, but this has been partly disturbed by the modern use of heavy machinery for tree removal. The moat has been breached in three further places by tree removal and a modern path. The interior is divided roughly in half by a slight ditch running in a north-south direction across it, and there is a faint indication of a low central platform situated immediately west of this ditch, approximately 12m in diameter, which may have formed a foundation for the lodge. No visible traces survive of the lodge itself, although pieces of slate and medieval tile have been observed on the site and further buried remains can be expected to survive. Historical records indicate that the original structure was built between 1358 and 1361, that it included a kitchen, and was of timber frame and plaster construction, with a roof of Purbeck and Cornish slates. It formed part of a set of four lodges constructed at the same time in the New Forest for Edward III, the principal one of which, Hatheburg, was situated near Lyndhurst and was constructed on a grander scale including a King's chamber, chapel, hall and outbuildings. At least three other royal hunting lodges are known to have been constructed in the New Forest during the 13th and 14th centuries. (Scheduling Report)

A park was attached to the manor of Lyndhurst from a very early date. In 1299 it covered an area of 500 acres, the profits from the honey gathered there amounting to 2s. per annum. In 1313 mention is made of 'the close of Queen Margaret at Lyndhurst.' Later in the century the Sheriff of Southampton was ordered to provide the necessary transport for the work of inclosing the king's park at Lyndhurst. In 1358 John de Beauchamp was charged to sell sufficient timber from the park of Lyndhurst to defray the expense of making four lodges and ridings in the forest. In 1387 and again in 1428 payments were made for the fencing and repairing of the palings of the king's park at Lyndhurst. (VCH)

Comments

As with the other smaller lodges of the New Forest this may represent the residence and offices of a royal official (forester) rather than a royal residence, although it could have also provided supplementary accommodation when the large royal court was at Hatheburg. It is likely to have been built in a style which reflected the royal and legal status of the forester. Not marked as an anything recognisably manmade on Drivers map.