| Summary : Parts of a monastic grange of 13th century date, situated on the right bank of the Muggleswick Burn at Priory Farm. The standing remains of the monument are Listed Grade I. The grange was built for the priors of Durham by Prior Hugh of Darlington, while he held office between 1258 and 1272, on what is thought to have been the site of an earlier grange. The grange lay within a park, which Prior Hugh was granted permission to enclose in 1259. The buildings remained in use throughout the medieval period; in 1464 a document records that the buildings consisted of a hall, chapel, grange and a dairy. The visible remains of the grange above ground are two rectangular blocks orientated east to west and joined at the south western corner of the smaller, more easterly block. The latter block consists of the remains of a rectangular building 15.1 metre long and 4.4 metres wide within a wall 1.7 metres to 1.8 metres thick. The eastern gable is intact and stands to its full height of 15.5 metres. At the centre of the gable there is a window of 15th century date. The form of the window is thought to indicate that the upper storey was used as a chapel. The south wall of the building stands to a height of 3 metres at its eastern end. The west wall was uncovered by excavations in the late 19th century and was found to be 1.8 metres thick. The north wall stands to a maximum height of 2 metres but is on average 0.7 metres high. The western block is a rectangular building, substantially longer than the eastern. This building originally contained a vaulted undercroft. The western gable of this building stands up to 4 metres high. The western block is thought to have house the main hall of the grange, above vaulted undercrofts. The foundations of the remainder of this building survive below ground level as buried features. |
More information : NZ 0445 5002. Ruins (NR). (1)
The remains adjoining and partly built into the present farmhouse at
Muggleswick are of the lodge, grange and camera built in 1259-60 by
Prior Hugh de Derlington. A chapel was probably built at the same
time for in 1464 the buildings comprised a hall, chapel, grange
and "deira" (probably a dairy).
Some of the remains shown on the 1890 plan (2) had been uncovered by
excavation. At that time the sites of the fish pond and stew were
still visible, "not for distant ... and a little to the south", and
ground irregularities north of the farm buildings denoted buried
foundations of considerable extent. (2-2a-2b)
Fragmented remains as shown on sketch plan. Centred NZ 0443 5006, an
irregular surface containing fragments and traces of banks, too vague
to be surveyed. (3)
Prior's Grange or Hunting Lodge. Grade 2. (4)
What may be the remains of fish pond and stew are visible on RAF air
photographs centred NZ 0511 5000. (See also NZ 04 NW 8). (5)
As described by authority 3. Published Survey (1:2500) Correct.
There is no trace of fishponds in the area centred NZ 0511 5000.
There are traces of ridge and furrow along side the river but no
indication of any feature which could be interpreted as a fish-pond.
(6)
Existing survey revised by RCHME during a project on scheduled
monuments in County Durham.
The remains of the lodge and grange of the manor of Muggleswick
comprises two separate parts with the intervening space occupied by
modern farm buildings. The west part at NZ 0440 5001, a west gable
end, is as described by the DOE (7a). The east part at NZ 0445 5003
is also generally as described by the DOE, but part of the foundation
of a west wall, 1.8 m thick and including a doorway 1 m wide, has
been exposed by digging, indicating a building, or chamber of a
building, 15.1 m long and 4.4 m wide within a wall 1.7 m - 1.8 m
thick.
The south wall terminates on a rebated door jamb, 1.5 m high; built
on top of the north wall is a later fieldwall, 0.6 - 0.7 m thick
which continues westwards from the north-west corner. Both north and
south walls are deformed by tree growth and some stones have
collapsed from the former. Some ridge-and-furrow occurs east of the
remains but nothing survives at the fishponds further east or `buried
foundations' north of the farm buildings. (7)
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