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KINGS MANOR

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DESCRIPTION

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Medieval moat, 45m south of Little London. The site survives as an earthwork, dredged in 1976, when the remains of a wooden bridge were found, along with pottery, leatherwork, decorated floor tiles and animal bones. The moat was dug around an existing manorial complex in about 1320. The original buildings may have been a royal hunting lodge. A documentary source of 1373-4 refers to a hall, kitchen, chambers, larder, pantry and stable.

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MORE INFORMATION & SOURCES

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[SE 65202055] Manor Hill Mansion [NR] (Site of). (1)

At some distance from the house of Cowick Park are the remains of a moated tower, said to have been erected for John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. (2)

Suggested date of ruin, AD 1204. (3)

Resurveyed at 1:2500. A water filled moated enclosure in good condition and well defined; there is no evidence of any structural remains within the enclosed area. (4)

Condition unchanged apart from minor amendments, published survey (25") revised. (5)

SE 653205. `King's Manor' or 'Manor Hill' moated site. Cowick Manor together with the rest of the Lancastrian inheritance passed into the ownership of the Crown in 1322. Edward II ordered various improvements at Cowick; chamber accounts 1322-4 refer to works on the 'houses' of the manor which were roofed with tiles and fitted with new fireplaces, and also to the digging of a great ditch 40 ft wide and 10 ft deep around the inner court in the summer of 1323. Cowick was among the Chamber Manors taken by Queen Isabella in 1327, and was afterwards held by Queen Phillippa. It returned to Lancastrian owners in 1370. An account at the time of John of Gaunt, 1373-4, refers to the Hall, kitchen, privy chamber, larder, pantry, stable and bridge (a).

The outer courts are under plough. The moat survives, dredged in 1976 prior to stocking with fish. Dredging operations watched over by M J Dolby for the Department of the Environment revealed the central stone pier and part of the inner abutment of the bridge on the N stretch of the moat. A sole plate of the bridge, 8.20m long and 0.45m x 0.25m in cross section, containing mortice holes, was recovered near the central pier. Other finds, deposited in Doncaster Museum, included timber planks, parts of three wooden bowls, a mallet with an oak head, leatherwork, a wide range of pottery vessels dating down to the early 16th century, including many products of the West Cowick kilns, decorated floor tiles, a key and an arrowhead both of iron, together with bones of cattle, horse, pig, sheep and red, roe and fallow deer. Samples were taken for environmental analysis and timber sections were obtained for dendrochronology. (6-8)

SE 653205. Moat in South Park, Snaith & Cowick. Scheduled. (9)

The moat is visible on air photographs of various dates, but the island and external bank are tree-covered. (10)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" map, 1956

( 2) General reference

Through Airedale, 1891, p 16 (J Gray)

( 3) Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Object Name Book reference

Object Name Book, 2nd Revision, 1906, Yorkshire, p 251

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

Ordnance Survey Archaeological Division Field Investigator, RL 26-MAR-1963

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator, ISS, 03-JAN-1975

( 6) by Neil Loughlin and Keith Miller 1979 A survey of archaeological sites in Humberside carried out for the Humberside Joint Archaeological Committee

Page(s)158

( 7) R Allen Brown, H M Colvin and A J Taylor 1963 The history of the King's Works, volume 2 : the Middle Ages

Page(s)921-2

( 8) The Yorkshire archaeological journal

49 Page(s)11

( 9) General reference

DOE (IAM), Ancient Monuments in England, 1978, vol 1, p 30

(10) Vertical aerial photograph reference number

RAF CPE/UK 2072 3018 17-MAY-1947

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