Dunton Bassett manor (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Dunton Bassett.
In the historic county of Leicestershire.
Modern Authority of Leicestershire.
1974 county of Leicestershire.
Medieval County of Leicestershire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP54759053
Latitude 52.51003° Longitude -1.19481°

Dunton Bassett manor has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

VCH records this site as a 'moated inclosure with stronger defensive works.'

Within the village, encroached upon by a smithy, is a dry moat around the site of an ancient hall. The inner side of the moat is defended by earthen walls by which the scarp to the moat attains 7 ft., one portion on the west rising to 9 ft. The surrounding area is dyked and banked, and on the eastern side is a spring. (VCH)

A sub-rectangular moated site orientated east-west and measuring 60m x 50m with two well-defined arms on the north and east sides 6m wide and 1.5m deep with an internal bank. Traces of a southern arm less than 0.5m deep can be seen parallel to the field boundary. the western arm appears to have been infilled. there are building foundations on the eastern side of the island measuring 12m x 13m and 0.3m high. A fishpond measuring 15m square and embanked on the east is situated on the eastern side of the moat and is connected to it by a channel. (PastScape–ref. Scheduling report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1010915, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 17052
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 340716.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MLE1459.

Books
- Wall, C., 1907, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm, (ed), VCH Leicestershire Vol. 1 p. 265 online copy
Periodical Articles
- McWhirr, A., 1972-3, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 48 p. 63 (report of minor finds) online copy

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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.

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.
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