More information : [TF 4914 8463] Moat [G.T.] (1)
Mablethorpe Hall was a seat of the Fitz-William family in the 15th-16th centuries. A short distance from the house is a moated area. (2)
An incomplete homestead moat. Published survey 25" (1906) revised. The Hall is modern. (3)
The Medieval or Post Medieval moat described by the previous
authorities was seen as an earthwork and mapped from good quality air photographs. Only three sides were visible centred at the grid reference quoted by authority 1. There are a lot of earthworks to the SW and SE of this moat which are assumed to be Medieval settlement remains, possibly associated with the moat. The settlement remains have been recorded in TF 48 SE 27. (Morph No. LI.381.3.3)
This description is based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database.
(4)
The Lincolnshire Historic Environment Record (HER) contains two records relating to Mablethorpe Hall, one a reference to a medieval hall house, the second to a moated site a short distance away from the site of Mablethorpe Hall. It is suggested that in 1585 the Hall belonged to the Fitzwilliam family. During the Civil War it was used as a Royal Garrison, when earthworks were constructed to defend the former hall; in 1922 these were said to be still visible.
The date of construction of the current building is not known, although from the evidence of its form and surviving windows, it appears to date to the late 18th or or early 19th century. A source has been provided from the Cromwellian Gazetteer (Peter Gaunt, 1987) which states that 'the old house has been largely demolished, though fragments were incorporated in the modern farm buildings, still called Mablethorpe Hall, which stands amid the remains of the moat'. The 1st and 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey (OS) maps of 1889 and 1906 clearly shows the ditch surrounding the present house, which is sited on the west side of the island; however, the moat now appears to survive as little more than a drain. A linear parch mark visible on Google Earth, aligned with the east arm of the moat, may indicate the bank of a second moat to the south.
The current Mablethorpe Hall was most recently in use as a care home, and was extended for this purpose in 2006.
Mablethorpe Hall is a two-storey house consisting of a main west range and east wing, with hipped, slate roofs, with chimneys set in the slopes of each hipped section. The building is rendered, and appears to have mostly modern windows. Unhorned sash windows survive in the west, probably main elevation, from which a modern single storey extension projects westwards. Other extensions include a flat-roofed addition, replacing parts of the early house, filling the angle between the main range and the east wing and connecting these with a building shown as freestanding on the 1889 OS map. The footprint of the house shown on the OS maps of 1889 and 1906 is smaller and very different to that of the present day.
*Survival: the extensions and alterations to the house have severely compromised its plan form and external appearance, and have resulted in the loss of much external detail, particularly windows and doors;
*Architectural interest: the house seems to have been of standard form for the period, and the loss of external detail has considerably reduced its architectural interest.
*Archaeological interest: the site is of archaeological interest for its identification as a medieval moated hall house. Moated sites are widely distributed throughout England, and are important for the understanding of the distribution of wealth and status in the countryside in the medieval period. Although the moat at Mablethorpe Hall does not survive well as a clearly defined feature it is clearly identified on historic OS maps, and its presence may be confirmed by archaeological investigation. If this is indeed the site of the moated hall house, elements of which are said to have been incorporated into farm buildings, the central area is likely to contain evidence in confirmation of that.
Whilst the site is of considerable local historical interest for its medieval origins, its connection with the powerful Fitzwilliam family, and for its use in the Civil War as a Royalist Garrison, it is not of special interest in the national context. (5) |