Barsham Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Blennerhassett Tower

In the civil parish of Barsham.
In the historic county of Suffolk.
Modern Authority of Suffolk.
1974 county of Suffolk.
Medieval County of Suffolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TM395904
Latitude 52.45897° Longitude 1.52518°

Barsham Hall has been described as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a Tower House but is rejected as such.

There are masonry footings remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The site lies on the south side of the Waveney valley, north-west of Holy Trinity Church. It comprises two separate areas: the moated site of Barsham Hall, and the remains of a building interpreted as a dovecote. The moat surrounds the north, west and east sides of a raised rectangular platform, standing up to 2 metres in height and measuring about 57 metres by 55 metres. The moat is about 10 metres wide, and is now largely infilled on the north and east sides, where the outer edges are marked by a scarp up to 0.5 metres high. The infilled southern arm probably survives as a buried feature. The central platform contains the buried remains of the 15th or 16th century hall and other buildings, and a house, originally the 1563 banqueting hall. The second area lies to the south and consists of the footings and buried remains of a circular building measuring approximately 10 metres in diameter and thought to have been a dovecote associated with the hall. The footings now stand to a height of about 0.3 metres. (PastScape)

The manor house is said to have been built by the Etchinghams (last died in 1527), and was largely pulled down by Robert Suckling (died 1812). It is said to have consisted of a great hall 44 x 28 feet (which) occupied the whole height of the building, a courtroom 28 x 18 feet with a chamber over 24 x 18 feet. Adjoining the hall was a withdrawing room 32 x 28 feet. All 16 feet high. The house enclosed a quadrangle, whose exterior walls were 142 feet each way, and near the entrance, which was over the E side of the moat, stood a lofty tower with a spiral staircase. Some of the apartments, now converted to cowhouses and stables, retain fireplaces and over a door are the Blennerhasset arms and the date 1563 (Blennerhassets succeeded Etchinghams in 1527 and sold hall in 1613) (S1) (from (R1)). Barsham Hall has been demolished. The former banqueting hall at TM 3958 9035 has had many additions and alterations and is in sound condition (1563 datestone). Blannerhassett Tower (well to S of moat, looking similar to circular dovecote on photo (S7)) has been demolished, the rubble remains standing to a maximum height of 0.3m and are thickly shrub covered. (Suffolk HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1018968, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 30580
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 391848.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) BRS 001.

Books
- Pevsner, N. (Revised Radcliffe, Edna), 1974, Buildings of England: Suffolk (London, Penguin) p
  Dickinson, P.G.M., 1957 (6edn), A little guide to Suffolk p. 62
  Wall, 1911, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Suffolk Vol. 1 p. 604 online copy
Periodical Articles
- 1932, Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 24 p. 42
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Bamford, H., January 1999, Suffolk Archaeological Service. Site Report. English Heritage

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.
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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.

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