Hales Hall, Loddon (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Loddon.
In the historic county of Norfolk.
Modern Authority of Norfolk.
1974 county of Norfolk.
Medieval County of Norfolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TM36889606
Latitude 52.51112° Longitude 1.49024°

Hales Hall, Loddon has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are masonry footings remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

The remains of a late 15th century house built by James Hobart (Henry VII's attorney general) from 1478 onwards survive on the site of a medieval hall. The only upstanding remains of the Hall are the gatehouse range and the impressive brick barn, which stand to the east of the moated site where the main house was constructed. The foundations of the late 15th century house and octagonal corner turrets are visible on the moated platform which is divided by an earthwork bank, probably a garden terrace. Roger de Hales almost certainly had a house here in the 12th century, which was associated with a deer park and a chapel dedicated to St Andrew. The distinctive curving boundary of the medieval deer park can still be traced on modern maps. There are several areas of earthworks in the vicinity of the Hall, particularly to the south and southeast of the barn. They are visible on aerial photographs and some have been the subject of detailed ground survey. They include a hollow way and several ditched enclosures, all probably of medieval date and possibly relating to an earlier hall. An area of possible ridge and furrow is visible to the northeast of the courtyard. Excavations have been carried out on the site of the Hall over a number of years, recovering prehistoric flints, Roman pottery and many medieval and post medieval finds. (Norfolk HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1003754, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number nf301
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1169558
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 391781.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1053.

Books
- Cushion, B. and Davison, A., 2003, Earthworks of Norfolk (Dereham: East Anglian Archaeology 104) p. 106-7
  Blomefield, F., 1808, 'Clavering Hundred: Hales, or Lodden-Hales' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 8 p. 16-21 (tenurial history) online transcription
Periodical Articles
- 1960, Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 32 p. 180-1

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

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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