An archaeological and historical - Archaeology Data Service

Mottisfont Estate archaeological survey
CKC Archaeology Page 4
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Summary statement
This survey was proposed by the Southern Region of the National Trust as part of their
continuing enhancement of their land management of their properties. It is eventually hoped that
all National Trust properties will be incorporated on a centralised Sites and Monuments Record
computerised database (henceforth SMR) held at the Cirencester office. The brief was drawn up
for the survey by Caroline Thackray, Archaeological Adviser. C K Currie of CKC Archaeology
was asked to undertake the survey on behalf of the property management. He was assisted by
Neil Rushton.
he Mottisfont estate appears to demonstrate the evolution of diverse landscape containing land
hat has been used long-term for arable, meadowland and woodland land uses. It is a rare
xample of a former monastic estate, with later accretions, that has survived intact, and is still
anaged from its original centre. There is evidence for prehistoric activity on lands just above
he valley flood plains, but little direct evidence for Roman or early Saxon activity.
he manor of Mottisfont enters the historical record as a manor held by the Archbishop of York
t the time of the Domesday Survey. It appears to be a place of some importance as there are a
umber of subsidiary chapels in the locality attached to its church. The Domesday Survey also
eems to suggest the existence of hamlets at Dunbridge, and possibly Oakley. About 1200
illiam Briwer or Brewer founded a small Augustinian priory on his own manor in Mottisfont.
his land was different to that held by York Cathedral, the latter manor became known as
ottisfont Treasury, as it provided revenue for the Treasurer of York Cathedral.
rental written c. 1340 shows that the Augustinian manor of Mottisfont with Cadbury (as it
ecame known) was a thriving community. Three open fields seem to be implied from the rental,
South Field, North Field and West Field. Their approximate extents can be postulated. Recent
research seems to suggest that the priory had retained most of the land of this manor in their own
hands as demesne, leaving the numerous peasantry to make their living mainly as waged labour.
After the Black Death, the monastery seems to have fallen on hard times. It was threatened with
suppression in the late 15th century, but survived until the Dissolution of the lesser houses in
1536.
At the Dissolution, the estate was granted to William Sandys of the Vyne, who began the
conversion of the priory buildings into a mansion. The Sandys family held the estate until 1684,
making the house their main Hampshire residence with the sale of the Vyne in 1653. On the
death of Edwin Sandys in 1684 the estate passed to the Mill family, and it passed by inheritance
until 1934, when it was purchased by Mr and Mrs Gilbert Russell. The widowed Mrs Russell
equeathed the estate to the National Trust in 1957.
It is uncertain if the extensive woodlands on the estate are early. Many of the woods examined
were found to have grown up over former quarried ground. This activity seems to have been
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