More information : [Centred at SU 4276 0360] Earthwork [G.T.] (1)
A small earthwork with sides measuring approx. 40' x 40' The ditch is well-marked and wet, and clearly defensive. There are entrances about the middle of the E. and W sides but these are not certainly original. It seems to be a mediaeval moated site. (2)
The site suggests mediaeval origin. Mole hills within the enclosed area indicate that a building once stood here [F/54/155/7] (3)
In excavations in the moated area I have found traces of three buildings. At 'A' were remains of two buildings superimposed and of early Md. date. At 'B' was an 18th cent. house with much Md. material in its walls and at 'C' was a small building of cob. I have encaustic tiles, pottery and iron fragments from the site. North of the moat, another building with large stones in thick walls was found in putting down field drains. Md. pottery dates it to pre-Tudor - At 'D'. North-east of the moat considerable remains of buildings are found in ploughing but so far nothing datable has been found - At 'E' Pottery from early Md. to Victorian date can be found everywhere in quantity on the fields of the farm. (a)
The present house is of Tudor date and probably was built soon after the Dissolution. In digging in the garden I have found the foundations of what were probably wings to a house of typical 'E' shape.
Dr. Crawford has told me that he regards the whole site as a monastic manor with associated buildings replaced by post-Dissolution buildings. (4)
The present house is built almost entirely of Tudor brick and has garden walls of re-used stone, tile and brick. No evidence of buildings in the fields was seen other than extensive scatters of tile. Within the moat, planted with turnips, pieces of stone, chalk, slate, brick and tile were seen, and some nondescript sherds of pottery found. A bank taken by H. Sumner to be an extension of a Md. boundary bank is more probably a road to the central, and probably original, entrance. Mr Willsher, the owner of the property, has amassed a large collection - housed in a barn - of finds made on the farm and in digging at the moat. Many tiles - some with Beaulieu Abbey type patterns, quantities of pottery, iron objects, pieces of stone, glass, and other finds, occur. Mr. Willsher's excavations are, however, small pits and trenches and little recording or classification has been done. (5)
The earthwork is as illustrated by Authy 3, and the house as described by Authy.5. Published 1:2500 revised. (6)
Holbury Manor is first mentioned in 1312 when it was granted to Beaulieu Abbey. It remained in the hands of the Abbey until the Dissolution. (b) Its status is uncertain. (c) Survey and description of 5 and 6 still correct. (7)
Holbury Manor House, grade II*. Damaged by fire in 1976 and now derelict. (8)
A site evaluation took place in 1987 of the p ost-Medieval building and well. The structure was delapidated and only a few features including a clay-lined well, and much building debris was recorded. (9)
The last in the sequence of old houses was replaced in the late 1980s with a modern house sud-divided into flats; it was designed to resemble the old house. (10)
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