A Reappraisal of the Twelfth-Century Building at Burton Agnes, East Yorkshire

Abstract

The twelfth-century building at Burton Agnes known as the ‘Manor House’ is reconsidered. Previously identified as a hall, the new survey suggests that the upper room was a grand chamber of unusually large dimensions. It was connected to an adjoining inner chamber and garderobe to the rear by a timber bridge, none of which survives. The ground floor was a very finely decorated undercroft, possibly serving as sleeping quarters for senior members of the household. Together with the nearby church which was rebuilt at the same period, it is argued that chamber block and now demolished hall were intended to make a statement about the status of the lord of Burton Agnes.

Keywords:

• Burton Agnes
• chamber block
• domestic building
• medieval house
• undercroft
• waterleaf
• Stuteville

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr Jeremy Ashbee for facilitating access to Burton Agnes and to Dr Ron Baxter for his comments on the dating of the building.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The National Archives (TNA), WORK14/1904.

2 Wood, M., Norman Domestic Architecture, 54–56.

3 Pevsner, Yorkshire: York and the East Riding, 366; Allison, ‘Burton Agnes’, 108.

4 Wilson, ‘Excavations at Burton Agnes’.

5 Wood, R., ‘Burton Agnes’.

6 Allison, ‘Burton Agnes’, 107–09; Farrer and Clay (ed.), Early Yorkshire Charters 9.

7 The Pipe Roll Society, The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Eighteenth Year of King Henry II, 62.

8 Doherty, ‘Robert de Vaux and Roger de Stuteville’, 71.

9 Stenton, The Great Roll of the Pipe for the First Year of King John, 5; Farrer and Clay, Early Yorkshire Charters 9, 28–29.

10 For the first date, see Hull History Centre, U DDWB/18/11.

11 Surtees Society, Testamenta Eboracensia 4, 242–44.

12 Girouard, Robert Smythson and the Elizabethan Country House, 185.

13 TNA, WORKS 14/1903, 14/1904.

14 For the ground-floor door in the east gable and staircase, see photograph in TNA, WORKS 14/1904.

15 Wilson, ‘Excavations at Burton Agnes’.

16 Wood, R., ‘Burton Agnes’.

17 Wilson, ‘Excavations at Burton Agnes’.

18 Wood, M., Burton Agnes Old Manor House, 9.

19 Wood, M., Burton Agnes Old Manor House, 9.

20 Wood, M., Burton Agnes Old Manor House.

21 Impey and Harris, ‘Boothby Pagnell Revisited’; Beresford, ‘The Medieval Manor of Penhallam’, Figure 27; Wood, M., The English Medieval House, Figure 5.

22 Wood, M., Burton Agnes Old Manor House; Wood, M., The English Medieval House, 19.

23 Pevsner and Neave, Yorkshire: York and the East Riding, 366.

24 Ron Baxter, pers. comm.

25 Wood, M., Burton Agnes Old Manor House; Wood, M., The English Medieval House, 16–34.

26 Blair, ‘Hall and Chamber’.

27 Impey, ‘Seigneurial Residence in Normandy’, 64.

28 Hill and Gardiner, ‘English Medieval First-Floor Hall’, 344–47.

29 Birch and Ryder, ‘Hatfield Manor House’.

30 Hill, ‘Two Norman Chamber Blocks’.

31 Historic England, East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire, 21–22.

32 Nettlestead Place in Kent has a fine vaulted undercroft with a central row of stone columns, but is of mid-thirteenth-century date (Pearson 1994, 21–24).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nick Hill

Nick Hill is an architectural historian with a particular interest in twelfth and early thirteenth-century domestic buildings, on which he has published a number of articles. He also works as a project manager with Historic England, coordinating repair projects on historic buildings.

Mark Gardiner

Mark Gardiner is Professor of Medieval Archaeology at the University of Lincoln. He formerly worked at University College London and Queen’s University Belfast. He has previously published papers on aspects of medieval trade and landscapes, as well as buildings.