Court Moat Eglwyswrw (The Gatehouse Record)

Court Moat Eglwyswrw

In the community of Eglwyswrw.
In the historic county of Pembrokeshire.
Modern authority of Pembrokeshire.
Preserved county of Dyfed.

OS Map Grid Reference: SN13533941
Latitude 52.02203° Longitude -4.71803°

Court Moat Eglwyswrw has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House, and also as a Palace although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Three sides of a rock-cut moat remain of a mansion of the bishops of St David's. (Coflein)

Nothing except the moat remains of the manor house of the lordship of Eglwyswrw, the mansion house of Bishop David Martin (1293 – 1328) “being Lord thereof” as George Owen writes “ A house both of account and strength; for I have seen there huge walls and rooms of great breadth, all environed with a strong and deep moat digged out of the main rock, fed with a fresh spring rising in the same and all the greens thereabout growne with chamomile” (Fenton Tour 532.)
The site, now part of the modern farmhouse of Court is about 30yds by 20yds; it is surrounded on its north east and west side by the remains of a moat 15ft wide, which (on the east) is cut through rock. Here it is seen at its best, the remaining parts being overgrown and largely filled in with soil. (RCAHMW 1925)

The monument comprises the remains of a well-preserved medieval moated homestead. It consists of an platform c 45m square surrounded by a flat bottomed rock cut ditch c 6m in width and 1m deep partly filled in on the south. It may be set within the remains of an enclosure as there is a bank on the north with a maximum height of c 1.5m, and another on the west in use as a hedge bank. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

Called a homestead moat in the RCAHMW Inventory but seemingly a manor house, although a manor and 'lordship' created to honour David Martin. The description in by George Owen may rather aggrandise the house for hagiographic effect. However a rock cut ditch is a sign of strength, even if it was probably mainly cut as a quarry for the house stone. The personal house of bishop Martin, rather than an episcopal palace.

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is PE303.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 304052.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 976.

Books
- Spurgeon, C.J., 1981, Medieval Moated Sites in NW Europe
  Rees, Wm, 1932, Map of South Wales and the Border in the 14th century (Ordnance Survey) (A handbook to the map was published in 1933)
  RCAHMW, 1925, An inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Pembrokeshire (HMSO) p. 93 no. 236 online copy
  Laws, E. and Owen, H., 1908, Archaeological Survey of Pembrokeshire 1896-1907 (Tenby) p.
  Fenton, R., 1811, A historical tour through Pembrokeshire (Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & co.) p. 532 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Spurgeon, C.J., 1978, 'Medieval moated sites in Wales: present knowledge and future prospect' Archaeology in Wales Vol. 18 p. 18-29

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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.
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This record last updated 10/07/2016 04:38:42

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