Chevington Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Chevington.
In the historic county of Suffolk.
Modern Authority of Suffolk.
1974 county of Suffolk.
Medieval County of Suffolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL789602
Latitude 52.21106° Longitude 0.61766°

Chevington Hall has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

C16 farmhouse with extensive C18-C19 alterations, on the site of Chevington Hall, a retiring place for the abbot of St Edmund's monastery mentioned in 1309. No trace of the original building can now be seen although large quantities of dressed and undressed stone have been found in the area. A park and hunting lodge is also recorded, together with a mill. The farm is enclosed by a strong sub rectangular moat measuring 280 by 200m with traces of internal and external banks in parts, cut into a slight southerly slope. Parts are now dry, although the east arm has been widened to form two fishponds, a causeway between the ponds probably marking the original entrance to the island. An elongated mound 2.5m lies outside the moat, but its purpose is obscure. (PastScape)

The Abbots had a deer park to the north of the moated site; the park is mentioned in 1492. (Suffolk HER ref. Gage)

In November 1328 Abbot Richard de Draughton was captured by the rioting townsmen of Bury St Edmunds at his manor of Chevington and abducted. (Suffolk HER ref. Arnold)

Comments

The events of 1328 makes the point that regardless of the strength of defences no moated house was ever likely to have a large enough garrison to resist a mob, let alone an army. Such defences might delay an attack by a mob long enough for a counter assault by legal authorities to be mounted. However the defensive function of moats would have been to deter burglars. The main functions of moats may well have been other than defence and include fashion, symbolism and aesthetics and other such seemingly nebulous factors.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1298933
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 379725.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) CHV 003.

Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) (Shown on map of fortified houses of East Anglia)
  Martin, Edward, 1999 (3edn), 'Medieval Castles' in Dymond, David and Martin, Edward (eds) An Historical Atlas of Suffolk (Lavenham) p. 58-9
  Wall, 1911, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Suffolk Vol. 1 p. 620 online copy
  Copinger, W.A., 1911, Manors of Suffolk Vol. 7 p. 19 (tenurial history) online copy
  Arnold, T., 1892, Memorials of St Edmunds Abbey Vol. 2
  Gage, J., 1838, History & Antiquities of Suffolk, Thingoe Hundred p. 323-6
Periodical Articles
- 2007, 'Archaeology in Suffolk 2006' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol. 41.3 p. 369, 370 (slight) online copy
  2005, 'Archaeology in Suffolk 2004' Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Vol. 41.1 p. 116 (slight) online copy

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It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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