Athelhampton Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Adlampston

In the civil parish of Athelhampton.
In the historic county of Dorset.
Modern Authority of Dorset.
1974 county of Dorset.

OS Map Grid Reference: SY77079427
Latitude 50.74765° Longitude -2.32665°

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

There are major building remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

A country house begun in 1493 by Sir William Martyn and continued by his heirs in the 16th century. In the 17th century the service-range was remodelled and heightened, masking a window in the south-east gable of the hall. In 1891 the house was bought by AC de la Fontaine and was carefully restored with the south-east range being remodelled and extended. The solar was reconstructed in the 1920s and further restoration has been carried out since 1957. The house was partly damaged by fire in 1992. The ashlar-faced external walls are mainly limestone and greensand with Ham Hill stone for the dressings. The roofs are of clay tiles with larger stone slates at the eaves courses and stone gable copings with heraldic finials. (PastScape)

Although a licence to "to enclose and fortify ... with walls of stone and lime, and to build towers within the said manor and crenellate the same." was issued to Sir William Martyn in 1495 it is clear this was entirely symbolic and no attempt was made to seriously fortify the new house. Substantial remains exist of the house, although the gatehouse (of 1550) has been demolished. The pale of the medieval deer park of the house survives in part.

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1495 Nov 5 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1323995
English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 454831.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1 005 00?; 1 005 003.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Athelhampton House and Gardens
  Historic Houses Association
  Wikipedia entry
Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 487-90, 696
  Cooper, Nicholas, 1999, Houses of the Gentry, 1480-1680 (Yale University Press) p. 198, 264, 276, 308
  Pevsner, N. and Newman J., 1972, Buildings of England: Dorset (London) p. 80-83
  RCHME, 1970, An inventory of historical monuments in the County of Dorset Vol. 3: central p. 9-13
  Oswald, A., 1959, Country Houses of Dorset p. 65-8
Periodical Articles
- Aslet, C., 1984 May, Country Life Vol. 175
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1916, Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry VII (1494-1509) Vol. 2 p. 43 online copy

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