East Barsham Manor (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Wolterton Manor House

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

OS Map Grid Reference: TF91603394
Latitude 52.86839° Longitude 0.84694°

East Barsham Manor has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are major building remains.

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

Description

Detached gatehouse. Dateable on heraldic evidence post 1527. Brick rubble and moulded brick. Two storeys, with 4 corner angle shafts rising above battlemented parapet to form circular finials. Perpendicular arch to south, stone jambs with moulded brick arch; spandrel with Tudor Royal coat of arms post 1527. First floor 3-light mullioned window in panelled field which runs over the angle shafts on this face only. Vaulting inside arch no longer extant. To north facing house arch in fleuron framed compartment. At west 5-sided staircase turret. Thought to have been flanked with now demolished ancillary wings to East Barsham Manor. (Listed Building Report)

Manor house built c.1520-1530 for Sir Henry Fermor. Brick rubble with much carved and moulded brick decoration; red pantiles. House of 2 storeys articulated with polygonal angle shafts and battlements. Two-storey porch, slightly off-centre. Four centred stone arch, with flint and stone chequer work angles at ground floor, but brick above; carved brick coat of arms, 3-light arched headed windows above: the architectural and decorative inspiration is thus still Gothic rather than Renaissance. Hall range to west with the three bays divided by angle shafts, with decorated bands and battlements; brick mullioned and transomed windows. Service range to east of 3 bays, the central bay built up into a 3 storey tower, possibly originally balanced by another to the Hall range. This range was largely ruined in the C19 and the house was restored in 1919 and 1938. At west massive stack of 10 chimneys. (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1003997, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number nf138
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1373706 , 1049454
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 359157.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 2112; 15476.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) passim
  Cooper, Nicholas, 1999, Houses of the Gentry, 1480-1680 (Yale University Press) p.
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1962, The Buildings of England: Norfolk: North-West and South (Penguin) p. 122
  Rye, Walter, 1916, Castles and Manor Houses of Norfolk p. 8
  Britton, John, 1809, Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain Vol. 2 p. 92-3 online copy
  Blomefield, F., 1808, 'Gallow and Brothercross Hundreds: East-Barsham' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 7 p. 53-65 (tenurial history) online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Musson, Jeremy, 26 Feb 2004, 'East Barsham Manor' County Life Vol. 148.9 p. 52-7
  Pettigrew, 1858, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol. 14 p. 169 online copy
  1849, Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 2 p. 406 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk East of England Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 48 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk East of England Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 50 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 53 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 54 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 63 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 57 online copy

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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