Belper Manor (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Belper.
In the historic county of Derbyshire.
Modern Authority of Derbyshire.
1974 county of Derbyshire.
Medieval County of Derbyshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK35104733
Latitude 53.02223° Longitude -1.47803°

Belper Manor has been described as a Palace although is doubtful that it was such.

There are masonry footings remains.

Description

There is no distinct mention of Belper till 1296, when the manor was held by Edmund Crouchback, earl of Lancaster, who is said to have enclosed a park and built a hunting seat, to which, from its situation, he gave the name Beaurepaire. The manor thus became parcel of the duchy of Lancaster and is said to have been the residence of John of Gaunt. (Enc. Brit.)

The Manor Farm House situated in the Coppice is said to adjoin the site old Manor, and several silver coins have been found here, including one of the reign of Edward I. and one of the reign of Stephen. These different discoveries tend to confirm the statement that John of Gaunt once resided here. ... Old walls of immense thickness, buried in the ground, are quite discoverable to a practised eye. ... It is said that stones of the old manor are incorporated in the present farm house, and that a house in the Fleet has over the lintel a carved stone, carried away from the site. Of this stone is given an engraving; the crossed swords, in relief, are obviously of medieval date ; whilst the incised heart, date, and initials were probably cut in 1750, when the stone was moved here. It is difficult to obtain information respecting this old manor house, as Belper was over-shadowed for centuries by Duffield, which was the mother church of Belper, Heage, Turnditch, and other chapelries. (Derry)

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 17016.

Books
- Wiltshire, M. and Woore, S., 2009, Medieval Parks of Derbyshire p. 34-35
  Naylor, P. (Ed), 2000, An Illustrated History of Belper and its Environs (Belper: M.G.Morris)
  Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol. 2: the Middle Ages (London) p. 900
  1911, Encyclopedia Britannica Vol. 3 p. 711
Periodical Articles
- Derry, T.R., 1890, 'Some notes on Old Belper and Old Belper books' Derbyshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 12 p. 1-23 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Dave Barrett, Gill Stroud, 2009, Extensive Urban Survey - Derbyshire (English Heritage) Download copy
  Griffin, T., 2008, Belper Parks Project Report 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.

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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