Pembridge Amenity Trust

HOME	ABOUT THE TRUST	PROJECTS	GALLERIES	RESPONSIBILITIES	LINKS	CONTACT US

Protecting the Scheduled Historic Buildings and Monuments of Pembridge. A Registered Charity No 1060265

Pembridge the Village - Pembridge has clearly seen many changes since its inception. The village pre-dates the Domesday book. A community has existed at this place for over 1000 years. At one point in its history the village exceeded Leominster in size and was an important centre of commerce during the mediaeval period. Following the Industrial Revolution, Pembridge appeared to "fall off the map" and economic activity declined. The village was left alone to continue its rural traditions in relative isolation and, as a consequence, much of its medieval character remained unspoiled.

Pembridge Court House Farm Moated Site

As part of the Medieval Pembridge project, Border Archaeology were commissioned to carry out an exploratory dig on the Scheduled Ancient Monument at Court House Farm.

Three trenches 8m x 2m were permitted. They also carried out desk based research into what was known about the site and a summary of their findings of this and the dig follows.

This was very much a community project that involved villages and schoolchildren under the careful supervision of the professionals from Border Archaeology. The youngest ‘digger’ was just five years old while, at the other end of the scale, Kath, at 86, fulfilled a lifelong ambition, spending many afternoons in trenches two and three.

Photographs of the dig can be found here.

Summary of results:

The moated site at Court House Farm, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, consists of a large, irregular D-shaped mound 40m in width and 50m in length, surrounded by a wide, deep moat.

The proximity of the site to the church suggests that it was occupied at a very early date.

The earliest documentary reference to the site is in a royal grant of 1222, in which it is described as the ‘castrum de Penebrug’.

Documentary research carried out by Border Archaeology suggests that the mound probably dates from the late 11 th/early 12 th century, although it is possible that there may have been occupation on the site during the Anglo-Saxon period, before the mound was built.

It was the chief seat of the de Pembridge family from 1090 to 1265 and was later held by the Mortimer family from 1265 until about 1425.

Documentary research indicates that it was a favoured residence of the Mortimer family and that they probably rebuilt and altered the buildings on the site.

The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Hereford both stayed at Pembridge in the 1280s.

The function of the moated site also changed, from being a castle in the 12 th century, it had become a fortified manor house by about 1300.

The moated site was Crown property from 1461 until about 1600.

The site was abandoned by the early 17 th century. The remains of a ‘small keep or fortified castle’ were still visible there in 1655. By about 1800, the site had been completely cleared and was in use as an orchard.

An archaeological excavation on part of the site carried out by Border Archaeology has found evidence of the original cut of the medieval moat surrounding the site.

Excavations in the moat also revealed a large quantity of stone rubble, which may have been derived from the collapse of buildings standing on top of the mound.

Surprisingly, no archaeological evidence was found of a stone perimeter or curtain wall at the top of the mound, nor was there evidence of a wooden palisade or rampart, although this could have been obliterated by 18 th-19 th century landscaping after the abandonment of the site.

However, an exciting and very substantial find was made in one of the two trenches dug on the top of the mound; namely the lower courses of two masonry walls running broadly N-S, the northernmost of which predates the southern.

The function of these two walls is uncertain, but it is unlikely that they formed part of a defensive curtain wall as neither wall respects the edge of the mound.

A more plausible explanation is that the two walls were probably part of the foundations of a substantial stone building, which abutted at an acute angle to the edge of the mound.

The function of this large stone building is uncertain, it possibly may have served as a range of lodgings or as a large ancillary structure such as a stable.

In the second trench on the mound, evidence of two walls running NW-SE and SW-NE was found, framing an area containing a cobbled surface.

Finds made in the course of the excavation included a piece of Roman tegula (tile) embedded in one of the stone walls; early medieval pottery and plasterwork, a knife blade and an iron stirrup, also of medieval date.

The remains of a human skull were also found within the moat, although this probably ended up there when the church was restored during the mid-19 th century.

The archaeological evidence suggests that the buildings on the mound were destroyed or damaged by fire and subsequently rebuilt on two separate occasions during the medieval period.

It is unknown, however, when these two destruction events actually occurred, although there must have been at least a century between them.

For more information please contact the secretary of the Pembridge Amenity Trust info@pembridgeamenitytrust.co.uk