Runston Manor House (The Gatehouse Record)

Runston Manor House

In the community of Mathern.
In the historic county of Monmouthshire.
Modern authority of Monmouthshire.
Preserved county of Gwent.

OS Map Grid Reference: ST49529163
Latitude 51.62121° Longitude -2.73067°

Runston Manor House has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are masonry footings remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Within an area measuring roughly 30m by 30m, on the north side of a ruined church, lie the remains of a small medieval fortified site. Overgrown with small trees and bushes the remains are well-defined banks of tumbled rubble averaging 4m wide and 1.3m high. On the SW corner the outline of a tower roughly 5m in diameter can be made out. Some coursed walling is still evident but essentially the monument has been reduced to earthworks. (Coflein as 'Fortified manor house')

The monument comprises the remains of earthworks, platforms and building footings, representing a deserted village, of probable medieval date, and the remains of a small chapel. The chapel survives as a roofless ruin comprising the chancel and nave with a bell tower at the west end. The chancel arch survives intact, with the wall above and the eastern wall standing to their original height. The chapel retains significant architectural details, including finely jointed ashlar blocks in the chancel arch and small romanesque windows, which point to a construction date in the early 12th century. Documentary sources reveal that the chapel was built by the Normans shortly after their conquest of south-east Wales, however reference is made to the presence of a village on the site as early as the 10th century. The remains of the village can be seen to the south and east of the chapel as turf-covered banks, 0.5m to 1m high, some with stones exposed on them. In the centre of the site these banks delineate roughly rectangular areas, corresponding to the layout of houses, while on the edge of the settement the linear banks are probably the remains of field boundaries. Running east/west across the centre of the site is a narrow hollow way, which curves to the north at its eastern end. The village is known to have been deserted in the 18th century. The deserted village remains are of national importance for their potential to enhance our knowledge of medieval settlement, while the chapel is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of the organisation and practice of medieval Christianity. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

Site of DMV of Runston. It is arguably if the defenses of this site amount to a fortification.

Sources of information, references and further reading

The CADW scheduled monument record number is MM095.
The National Monument Record (Coflein) number(s) for this site is/are 407.
The County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) for this site is/are 01043g.

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales, the four welsh archaeological trusts and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain Designated Historic Asset Descriptive Information from The Welsh Historic Environment Service (Cadw), 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.
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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.

Lidar coverage in the UK is not complete. The button above will give an idea of the area of coverage. Higher resolution lidar images in both DSM and DTM form may be available from Lle A geo-Portal for Wales (click the preview tag to bring up a map and then select format byclicking on the small blue diamond in the top right corner of the map.)

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This record last updated 07/07/2016 08:46:32

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