Weddington Hunting Lodge (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Nuneaton.
In the historic county of Warwickshire.
Modern Authority of Warwickshire.
1974 county of Warwickshire.
Medieval County of Warwickshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP360934
Latitude 52.53879° Longitude -1.47135°

Weddington Hunting Lodge has been described as a Palace although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

The site of a medieval deserted settlement. It is mentioned in Domesday Book as "Watitune". It may have been the site of a royal hunting lodge of circa 1210. This hamlet, now in Nuneaton, was destroyed when the Marquis of Dorset enclosed the whole manor, turning it to pasture in 1491. Ten houses are reported pulled down in the 1517 Inquiry and sixty persons expelled. One of the lessees from the Crown, a Mr. Trye, rebuilt the village and made habitations fit for husbandry. This must have been before 1561. The church, which dates to C13-C14 still stands, and contains a C12 font, which may indicate that there was an earlier church on the site. A modern housing estate has been built on the site of the deserted settlement. (PastScape)

Comments

Gatehouse can find no other reference to a royal hunting lodge here other than this in PastScape which, in turn, seems to come from http://www.weddingtoncastle.co.uk/ a site which references Cook, A.F., 1992, A revised geology, geography and history of Weddington, in the County of Warwick (Mr Cook is a geologist). Nothing like this in the VCH. The tenurial history is not consistent with a royal forest. The given map reference is for the parish church.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 336205.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- John Brookes, 2005-2011, Weddington Castle
Books
- Cook, A.F., 1992, A revised geology, geography and history of Weddington, in the County of Warwick
  Salzman, L.F. (ed), 1947, VCH Warwickshire Vol. 4 p. 179-80 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- 1945-6, Transactions of the Birmingham Archaeological Society Vol. 66 p. 98

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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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