Winchester Mews (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
La Parroc

In the civil parish of Winchester.
In the historic county of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Modern Authority of Hampshire (City of Winchester).
1974 county of Hampshire.
Medieval County of Hampshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU475292
Latitude 51.06018° Longitude -1.32357°

Winchester Mews has been described as a Palace although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

The King's Mews was situated outside the West Gate and below the castle. In 1181-2 Henry II purchased a messuage there and converted into a mews for his falcons. Of some size, it also contained quarters for the falconers, a chapel, dovecote, and an oriel. The buildings were known as 'La Parroc'. In 1232 the complex was granted to Hubert de Burgh, and by 1249 the buildings were derelict. In 1251 the buildings were demolished and the stone used to repair Winchester Castle. (PastScape)

The evidence of the reign of Henry II showing the activity of the town, the enlarging and building of the royal castle, the importance of the mint and money exchange and other signs of prosperity, suggests that the ruinous state of the city at the beginning of his reign may well have been exaggerated. The royal Mews seem also to have been made at this time. There had been the Mewshay of the 12th century near the royal palace in the Square, but the new Mews were connected with the royal castle. The Pipe Roll for 1182 notes that the king had bought a house for his birds from Adam de Sanford, and in the same year £1 5s. 8d. was paid for the birds and £3 7s. was spent on kids for feeding the birds. Mews were prepared for the birds in 1184 and a new house within the castle in 1186. In the reign of Richard I, in 1193, £2 11s. 8d. was paid for two Mews and inclosing them with a hedge, while in 1201 £25 18s. was paid for 'making the king's mews.' A late 13th-century Plea Roll states that King John bought 'the land called the Mews outside Westgate in which were a house and dove-cote … . for the mewing of his hawks,' and adds that Henry III demised the Mews to Reginald son of Peter. However, an earlier inquisition of 1263 states that Henry II bought 'the place where the king's Mews were accustomed to be,' and that afterwards King John took it into his hands. After John's death it was in the king's hands until the Abbot of Pershore, the king's escheator, demised it to Rowland de Oddingsel for life, after whose death it was granted as a royal escheat to Reginald son of Peter in 1263. All traces of the site of the Mews outside Westgate have long been lost. (VCH)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1393806.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol. 2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p. 1006
  Page, Wm (ed), 1912, VCH Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Vol. 5 p. 2 online transcription
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- C145/3(23) (Survey of 1249) The National Archives reference (calendared in Maxwell Lyte, H.C., 1916, Calendar of Inquisitions Miscellaneous (Chancery), preserved in the Public Record Office (H.M.S.O.) Vol. 1 No. 79)

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