In 2012 as part of an investigation to find the site of the Croxton Kerrial Manor House, FLAG members undertook geophysical surveys of Pinfold field adjacent to the church in Croxton Kerrial. The results were extraordinary, clearly showing the remains of a substantial range of manorial buildings.
Resistivity survey of Pinfold field
Excavation of the site began in Spring 2012 and todate extensive masonary walls have been uncovered, believed to be the remains of the manorial hall, domestic buildings and stables/outhouses. The large number of pottery finds date mostly from the 13th to 15th century, contemporary with the period of manor house occupation, although finds of Roman and Anglo Saxon pottery indicate much ealier usage of the site. This seasons excavation restarted on the 16th April 2013, with immediate discoveries of walls at the west end of the hall, which we are now sure is the kitchen/buttery; we have uncovered a drainage duct here and are currently excavating the well. One of our most interesting discoveries were two hearths in the Great Hall, the original hearth in the centre and a later hearth against the south wall.
Hearth in the centre of the Hall
Second hearth adjacent to south wall of hall
Hearths one & two
Drainage duct in kitchen
Aerial Photo of the dig at Croxton
Garderobe to private chambers
Kitchen Well discovered August 2013
The well has now been excavated to a depth of 4m, it is beautifully built in stone with a blue clay base. At the bottom of the well we discovered the remains of a bucket and a wonderful medieval water jug, almost intact, dropped in over 600 years ago!
base of well
well shaft
Here are two of the intrepid well diggers!
PETER
AILEEN
Have they found Mr Turners wifes body body yet?
Iann
not sure who you are referring to here, can you give me more details?
regards
Tony
Congratulations on your find! Very interested to see your ‘found’ manor house project and would love to know how/why you got started. I am part of a funded project to unravel the history of a Duchy of Cornwall manor and to look for its manor house, if one existed.
hi Julia
the discovery came about from my researches into the history of the village which I am writing. There were a number of references to the manor house but no location, so we decided to carry out some geophysics on the obvious site, next to the church, and there it was!
regards
Tony
What a wonderful discovery. Congratulations to all concerned and good luck with the rest of the dig.
Well done everybody. This is local archaeology at its very best. Please publish and PLEASE get an artist to do reconstructions.
What do you plan to do with the site when you’ve finished (for the time being!)
thank you Brenda, we will be publishing in full and an artist is currently working on a reconstruction.
regards
Tony
I read the article from BBC News – ‘Lost’ medieval manor house found in Leicestershire, and I was wondering if you would expound upon this sentence.
“Once the work is completed, the group will backfill the site and the records will go into the council archives.”
Will you be covering the site back over once completed? If so, why?
I think it is wonderful you were able to locate the Manor and surrounding buildings.
Hi Angelique
unfortunately we will not be able to leave the excavations uncovered as they would be damaged by the weather and possibly vandalism. We are hoping to leave the well open with a suitable grill over the top. To leave the manor house remains uncovered would require a protective building over them, a very expensive option.
regards
Tony