SK8329 : Croxton Kerrial 12thC Medieval Manor House: excavations (9)
taken 5 years ago, near to Croxton Kerrial, Leicestershire, Great Britain

The lord and lady of the manor would have had a private room beyond the great hall most likely with a solar/sleeping chamber above it. The garde-robe would have been accessed from a small room off the corner of the upstairs chamber. Waste products would have fallen down a purpose built channel on the outside of the building into a pit below, seen in this photograph. This is situated in a small courtyard between the manor house and the tithe barn. The beautifully built arch gives access to the pit so the waste material can be dug out when full to be spread on the fields. A job for the lowest of the manor servants! The quality of this arch suggests that this was a high status building.
Although there are written records of a manorial dwelling in Croxton Kerrial from the 7th century, the last known historical records are from the mid 16th century, when there were reports of the house being uninhabitable. Any indication on maps of manor buildings had disappeared by the end of the 18th century. The exact position of the Manor in the village was unknown until Tony Connolly, the chairman of the Framland Local Archaeology Group (FLAG), began researching the history of the village.
Many local people had heard about the existence of a manor but no one was sure where it had been. However, tales of broken farm machinery during ploughing Pinfold Leys, a small field next to the village church, pointed to this as being the most likely site. In 2012, together with FLAG members, Tony Connolly carried out a geophysical survey discovering extensive remains under the field and over the following six years a band of FLAG volunteers, directed by Mr Connolly, have painstakingly excavated the extensive manorial site including a large cobbled crew yard, the house itself which includes a beautifully built garde-robe, the manor kitchen, a 4 metre deep well, a large tithe barn, a cattle barn and a range of associated buildings including a forge and what was probably a brew-house.
This is probably the most completely excavated manorial site in Leicestershire and excavations are planned to come to an end at the end of 2017. The excavated remains will be preserved by carefully restoring the field to grazing land.
More information, including details of finds from the site, can be accessed here: Link
Change to interactive Map >
- Grid Square
- SK8329, 157 images (more nearby
)
- Photographer
- Kate Jewell (find more nearby)
- Date Taken
- Sunday, 23 July, 2017 (more nearby)
- Submitted
- Wednesday, 26 July, 2017
- Geographical Context
- Place (from Tags)
- Primary Subject of Photo
- Subject Location
-
OSGB36:
SK 8359 2943 [10m precision]
WGS84: 52:51.3530N 0:45.6014W - Camera Location
-
OSGB36:
SK 8359 2943
- View Direction
- North-northwest (about 337 degrees)



