Listed Building record MDO6393 - Witchampton Manor House

The ruins of a former manor house of 13th century origin. The manor house was converted into a farm building in the 18th century and became runious in the early 19th century. Parts of the runined structure are visible on aerial photographs and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Stour Mapping Project.

The surviving ruins represent two connected two-storeyed wings forming an L-shaped plan, both of 13th century date, although built in separate phases. Of these south and west wings, the latter is the earlier; attested by the position of a vertical straight joint formed between the two, which is visible on the inside wall face, but masked by a buttress on the exterior south face. A third block, the narrower east wing, projected north from the east end of the south wing, the main evidence for which is an isolated pier of flint wall at the internal angle of the south and east wings. No more than c 40% of the walls of these wings survives above ground and, since the building was converted to agricultural lean-to sheds in the later 18th century, all historic carpentry and most other details, which would add flesh to the bones, have been lost. However, the few surviving features indicate the importance of the building, at least during the earlier medieval period. Previous reports have identified the narrower south wing as a first-floor hall and the west wing as solar, but an alternative possibility that a hall once adjoined the opposing (west) side of the west wing is discussed in the English Heritage Historic Buildings Report. This would imply that the south wing may not have been the hall and, instead, may have been a chamber range adjoining the solar (west wing). While such an interpretation is no less plausible than earlier ones, it is unsupported by more substantial evidence. Further investigation, perhaps by geophysical methods, may add to our understanding, but may prove inconclusive if the supposed former hall (to the west) was of timber-framed construction. The inclusion of a hall to the west of the standing ruins, with the implication also of services at that end, implies that the ruins formed a series of extended solar apartments. However, the limited scope of the visible evidence, in particular the lack of certainty surrounding the location of the hall, means that this is unproven. <3> The ruins of a former manor house of 13th century origin. The manor house was converted into a farm building in the 18th century and became runious in the early 19th century. Parts of the runined structure are visible on aerial photographs and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Stour Mapping Project <4-5>. The building is marked as Abbey Barn (Remains of) on the OS 1st edition map.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2023 12:36PM