Easton Neston House
Has been described as a Possible Fortified Manor House
There are no visible remains
| Name | Easton Neston House |
| Alternative Names | Estneston; Estone |
| Historic Country | Northamptonshire and the Soke of Peterborough |
| Modern Authority | Northamptonshire |
| 1974 Authority | Northamptonshire |
| Civil Parish | Easton Neston |
The licence granted to Richard Empson in 1499 to create a large park around his manor at Easton Neston, (CPR p. 163-4) work which he presumably carried out in the years immediately following, marks a major turning-point in the landscape history of the parish. Any remaining houses at Easton itself (apart from the manor) were removed and thenceforth the only settlement in the parish outside the park was the small village at Hulcote (where the capital messuage was evidently taken down after Empson acquired that manor also) and the farm at Sewardsley. In 1517 Empson was said to have inclosed 64 a. of arable and pasture within his new park at Easton and Hulcote a few months before the grant of 1499, and to have converted 24 a. of arable to sheep pasture in 1502. The park contained 33 deer in 1540; three years later the Court of Augmentations compensated tenants for loss of land when it was enlarged, and some glebe was also taken in this way. Although the exact size and appearance of the park cannot be established before 1779 it appears to have included all the former common fields of Easton Neston and possibly part of those of Hulcote, but not those belonging to Sewardsley. A visitor from Moravia in 1600 commented on the 'most unusual gamepark' at Easton Neston, where the trees were trained into arbours, in which huntsmen could hide and shoot the game which wandered about the place.
The licence of 1499 also allowed Empson to crenellate his manor at Easton, which may have led to a rebuilding of the house. In 1511 there were 22 chambers at the manor; downstairs the principal rooms included two butteries and two parlours as well as a hall, two kitchens (one of them 'new'), a brewhouse and a number of other service rooms. The inclusion of 32 cases of glass, wrought-iron door furniture and other ironware, 1 cwt. of bricks, and three cases of tiles (P.R.O., C 142/26/21) may imply that building work was then in progress
In 1540 the rooms included a gallery (and gallery chamber), a porter's lodge (apparently leading to an inner court), a limehouse, a fish-house and a house in the garden in which there was a drag and flue to take fish. (L. & P. Hen. VIII, xv. 309-10) The house, which was visited by Elizabeth I on at least three occasions and also by James I and Charles I, may appear in the background to a painting of Sir George Fermor of 1597, which shows an agglomeration of pitched roofs, gables, arched doorways and mullioned windows. (VCH)
Not scheduled
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law
Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
| OS Map Grid Reference | SP701492 |
| Latitude | 52.1372718811035 |
| Longitude | -0.975849986076355 |
| Eastings | 470190 |
| Northings | 249250 |
