Castlefacts³

Seend Manor

Has been described as a Possible Fortified Manor House

There are no visible remains

Name	Seend Manor
Alternative Names	Sende
Historic Country	Wiltshire
Modern Authority	Wiltshire
1974 Authority	Wiltshire
Civil Parish	Seend

In 1419 the 'site' of the manor covered 2 acres, on which stood a tiled hall and chamber and a thatched stable and dovecote. Licence to crenellate was granted in 1347. In 1612 'Seend manor' lay inside the park. The house now called the Manor House, immediately east of Church Lane, was rebuilt by Ambrose (IV) Awdry, (d. 1789), and altered and enlarged in the 19th century. (VCH)

Gatehouse Comments

Humphrey de Bohun was granted a licence to crenellate his 'masum manerii' at Sende, Wilts in 1347. Presumably on or near to site now occupied by C18 manor house which is within a landscape considerable more grand than is usual for a small village manor house.The form of de Bohun house is not known. There doesn't appear to be any evidence of a moat and the lack of remains and ease in which the site was rebuilt may suggest a house with relatively thin walls and, possibly, with considerably timber elements. The 'chamber' mentioned in 1419 may have actually been a solar tower block of residential rooms. On the other hand a house of this status would, regardless of a licence to crenellate, be expected to have a boundary wall and entrance gatehouse and decorative battlements. The licence here was probably more to do with securing the legal status of the manor after a few decades when the manor had passed between de Bohun and Despenser hands.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

County Historic Environment Record

www.wiltshire.gov.uk/artsheritageandlibraries/museumhistoryheritage/wiltshireandswindonhistoricenvironmentrecord/wshermap.htm?a=d&id=15918

OS Map Grid Reference	ST944610
Latitude	51.3484306335449
Longitude	-2.08080005645752
Eastings	394400
Northings	161000