Maplewell Hall, Newton Linford (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
The Nunnery

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SK522132
Latitude 52.71387° Longitude -1.22741°

Maplewell Hall, Newton Linford has been described as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

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

Banks at Maplewell Hall. (VCH)

The present Maplewell Hall, now a boarding school, consists of the 1865 building added as a S. block to the older farmhouse. The farmhouse itself appears not earlier than the mid C18 and has been considerably restored. Unsuccessful attempts have been made recently to ascertain the site of the original house and a perambulation of the area revealed no trace of this or of a moat. The slopes shown SE of the house are ornamental and contemporary with the 1865 building, but on the stream, at SK 5212 1295, is a walled pond bounded on the N. and E. by banks possibly the earthworks referred to. (PastScape–Field Investigators Comments-F1 FRH 23-NOV-60)

Comments

Farnham writes that the modern Maplewell Hall is 'on a different site altogether' from the moated medieval house which could 'still be traced near the brook'. This was commonly called "the Nunnery". Nothing on modern or 1st edn OS map suggests the location of this moat. This, in itself, suggests the moat was not significant and one wonders what the VCH author was thinking and on what authority he considered this a 'stronger defensive work'.
Map reference for modern Maplewell Hall.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 919976.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MLE1140.

Books
- Hadfield, G.N., 1952, Charnwood Forest p. 58-9
  Wall, C., 1907, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm, (ed), VCH Leicestershire Vol. 1 p. 270 online copy
  Nichols, J., 1800, The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicestershire Vol. 3.1 p. 112 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Farnham, G.F., 1927-8, 'Charnwood Forest The Charnwood manors' Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 15 p. 183, 185 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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