Stourton Caundle Manor (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Court Barton

In the civil parish of Stourton Caundle.
In the historic county of Dorset.
Modern Authority of Dorset.
1974 county of Dorset.
Medieval County of Dorset.

OS Map Grid Reference: ST71251500
Latitude 50.93372° Longitude -2.41051°

Stourton Caundle Manor has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

Platform on the N. side of a small valley 300 yds. S.W. of the church, is said to be the remains of a 'castle' (Hutchins III, 667). Nothing survives except a few indeterminate scarps and mounds, and a platform 45 yds. square and about 1/2 ft. high. There is no evidence of a medieval castle; and remains more probably represent a former manor house, perhaps with turrets, as shown on a plan in Wilts. Record Office (Stourhead papers, 929). Mediaeval pottery has been found on the site (O.S. records).
The site is represented by a 45.0m. square platform vaguely discernible at ST 71251500. The position is not defensive and the building was probably a fortified manor house, common in the 13th to 14th century. Some fragments of gritty black Medieval ware and animal bones were found in a small digging into the side of the pond 50.0m. south of the site. The rectangular fishpond centred at ST 71251496 was probably fed at the west end and a pierced bank of earth at the extreme south east corner probably incorporated a sluice and outflow. The site suggests that the fishpond was also a mill-pond but no building structure was found. Centred at ST 71201500 is a small grass covered area of scarped elongated platforms, well above the pond level and with a south aspect. this is probably evidence of Medieval depopulation. (Field Investigators Comments-F1 NVQ 22-JUL-55). (PastScape)

Comments

A nave of C13 chapel (Grade 2 star listed) lies 90m west of Manor Farmhouse at ST7132514929. That is south of small valley and water course and is separated from the supposed manor house site by fish ponds. It may be the site of the medieval manor was closer to this chapel, perhaps where the Manor Farmhouse is and the barely discernible platform represented something else (a fashionable walled garden?). Wherever located the manor house does seem to have had some 'castle-like' elements.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 202270.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 2 053 018; 2 053 002.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Stourton Caundle A Brief History
Books
- Wilton, P., 1995, Castles of Dorset (Wimborne)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 130 (possible)
  RCHME, 1970, An inventory of historical monuments in the County of Dorset Vol. 3: central p. 269 no. 18, 19 online transcription
  Hutchin, J., 1868 (3edn org. pub. 1774), History of Dorset Vol. 3 p. 667 (Facsimile edn by EP Publishing produced 1973)

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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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