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WOODSFORD CASTLE

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DESCRIPTION

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Surviving range of a 14th century fortified manor house, considerably altered subsequently. Built of roughly coursed ashlar with thatched roofs. Originally a first floor hall, but altered and extended in the 17th century.

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(SY 7582 9037) Woodsford Castle (NR). (1)

Woodsford Castle. The manor of West Woodsford was held from the 11th to early 14th century by the Belet family but it was to William de Whitefield that a licence to crenellate the manor house was granted in 1335 (a). The present house was is a long rectangular building, now three storeys high, of coursed squared rubble dating mainly from the 14th century (see plan); this portion originally formed the eastern side of a courtyard of which the north, south and west ranges have been demolished, leaving no traces above ground level. Hutchins, however, described 'inequalities of the soil' which on the north side were 'still distinct enough to show the outlines of a square tower at the outer angle'. The present building originally had a projecting tower at each corner and in the middle of the east side, but only that on the north east now survives. Surviving corbels on the east and north walls suggest that the castle must originally have had an overhanging and perhaps machiolated parapet. The upper parts of the walls have been largely rebuilt and the parapet has entirely disappeared; the present thatched roof probably dates from the late 17th century as does the wing on the north west corner. Coker, circa 1630, described the castle as 'almost ruinated', (1) probably the result of a siege by High Stafford in 1460. according to Moule. (2-3)

Woodsford Castle (named confirmed (c)) as described above. See ground photograph. (4)

Woodsford Castle; Grade 1. (5)

Woodford Castle. Grade I. (6-7)

The site was surveyed by staff of RCHME during 1991 following a request by the Landmark Trust. The house and its present day gardens lie on a platform 0.45ha in area, defined on three sides by a scarp 0.5-1m high. The area to the west of the house contains traces of low mounds, possibly an enclosure. The south and north wings of the original castle are visible as a low spread bank. Other landscaping features are visible to the west, and to the east of the house small scarps and hollows are visible probably the result of recent disturbance.
For further information see archive report (8).

Listed by Cathcart King. (9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 2b) edited by William Page, F.S.A. 1908 The Victoria history of the county of Dorset : volume two

The Victoria history of the counties of England Hutchins Hist of Dorset 3rd Edn 1 1863 Page(s)450

( 2) Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England) 1970 An inventory of historical monuments in the County of Dorset. Volume two : south-east [in three parts]

Page(s)397-400

( 3) Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society

20, 1899 Page(s)161-166

( 4c) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 JGB 04-DEC-80

( 5) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

DOE (HHR) Dorchester Rural District Oct 1951 Page(s)73

( 6) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

DOE (HHR) West Dorset District Mar-87 Page(s)127

( 7) by John Newman and Nikolaus Pevsner 1972 Dorset

The Buildings of England Page(s)494

( 8) Field Investigators Comments

RCHME Field Investigation JAN-1990 HR Riley DJ Field D McOmish

(9) by David J Cathcart King 1983 Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the islands. Volume I : Anglesey - Montgomery

Page(s)129

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