Battleswick Farm, East Donyland, Colchester, Essex

Battleswick Farm, East Donyland, Essex Historic Asset Assessment Leigh Alston MA (Oxon), Architectural Historian Leigh Alston MA (Oxon) 4 Nayland Road Bures St Mary Suffolk CO8 5BX Tel. (01787) 228016 [email protected] May 2017 Battleswick Farm, East Donyland, Colchester, Essex (TM 025 220) This report is based on a site visit of 20th April 2017 and is intended to supplement an assessment made by Dave Stenning, formerly Essex County Council’s Historic Buildings Officer, whose sketch is included. The property’s postal address is Battleswick Farm, Rowhedge Road, Rowhedge, Colchester CO5 7JP, but it lies in the parish of East Donyland (of which Rowhedge forms the principal settlement). The building is omitted in error from the Schedule of Listed Buildings but is currently subject to re-evaluation (Historic England case no. 1441357). Summary Battleswick Farm occupies the site of the medieval manor of ‘Battleshall alias Battleswick’ in East Donyland, which bears the name of its 13th century holder Richard Battle of Wivenhoe. For much of its existence the manor appears to have operated either as a grange or a tenanted farm belonging to the larger estate based at Wivenhoe Hall which it overlooks on the opposite bank of the River Colne. The picturesque weatherboarded and largely timber-framed farmhouse is a building of considerable historic interest that evolved in a highly abnormal manner. It consists of five principal structures, all of which were shown on the tithe map of 1839: a small late-17th century central hall of 1.5 storeys is flanked on the east by a much larger parlour of two storeys that dates from the early-16th century and on the west by a single storeyed kitchen of the late-16th or early-17th century. Single-storeyed brick service wings were added to the front and rear of the kitchen in the 18th or early-19th century. The parlour preserves a number of impressive Tudor features including an intact crown-post roof (currently inaccessible but seen during recent roofing work), two doorways with four-centred arches, expensive close-studding and a rare enclosed stair in a dedicated narrow bay. Much of its framing is hidden by later plaster on the ground floor (which may have protected early decoration), but it appears to have formed the parlour cross-wing of a high-status demolished hall to the rear (south) and originally contained a single room on each floor. The evidence of high status in the early-16th century suggests a direct link with Wivenhoe Hall, which enjoyed a brief flowing at the same period when it was rebuilt as a grand mansion by the Earls of Oxford before falling quickly into decay after the 17th Earl sold it in 1584. Battleswick Farm would have been a highly conspicuous feature in the landscape when viewed from the new mansion and may well have been rebuilt by the De Veres at the same time. The single-storied western structure was initially a detached kitchen behind the Tudor house and retains a completely intact and heavily soot-encrusted roof with clasped-purlins and wind-braces. Detached kitchens of this kind were once common but are now notoriously rare. By the end of the 17th century the house had been converted into a more modest farmhouse, reflecting the demise of Wivenhoe Hall, by demolishing the earlier hall and inserting a small replacement between the back wall of the parlour and the kitchen. Although omitted in error from the Schedule of Listed Buildings the resulting house clearly meets the statutory criteria for listing at grade II given the presence of the rare kitchen and the various early-16th century architectural features of the parlour. The threshing barn to the north-east of the house is a mid-19th century example of standard form that would not normally merit separate listing but lies within the curtilage of the farmhouse and should be protected accordingly. It should be noted that the medieval manorial site is also of historic interest given its strategic position commanding the River Colne, close to the reputed site of Colchester’s original port, and may yield archaeological evidence of unusually early occupation. 1 Historic Background Figure 1 Current site plan based on the Ordnance Survey of 1970 highlighting in red the farmhouse to the west and the threshing barn to the east. The farm is now approached by a dedicated track from Rowhedge Road to the east and overlooks the River Colne on the east and the narrow valley of the Birch Brook to the south. Battleswick Farm occupies the site of the medieval manor of ‘Battleshall alias Battleswick’ in East Donyland, which bears the name of its 13th century holder Richard Battle of Wivenhoe (VCH). The manor appears to have operated as a grange for the larger manor of Wivenhoe with which it was held jointly until 1624/25. It was managed ‘in hand’ by labour services in the usual way during the 14th century, but by 1425 had been leased for a cash sum to a tenant farmer and appears to have continued as a tenanted farm until the present day (VCH, citing the manorial records now preserved at Keele University in Staffordshire). A bundle of deeds given to the present tenants some years ago in fact relates to neighbouring Cleavelands Farm on the north, which derives its name from a Colchester merchant, John Cleve, who acquired it in 1427 (VCH. See Appendix 1). By 1818 both Cleavelands and Battleswick Farms belonged to Benjamin Firmin, a farmer of Wivenhoe, who presumably sub-let them (Cleavelands deeds and 1818 Field Map of Battleswick Manor, ERO Q/RDc 17B). Although leased as a farm in the 15th century Battleswick Manor may have possessed special significance in the 16th century as it lies on a crest of land commanding a fine view to the east of the River Colne and the site of the original Manor of Wivenhoe (just to the north-west of Wivenhoe church). This view is now obscured by trees adjoining the house but can still be appreciated from the eastern entrance track where the church is fully visible. Wivenhoe Hall was rebuilt here on a grand scale in the late-15th and early-16th centuries by the Earls of Oxford, who had acquired the Manors of Battleswick and Wivenhoe by marriage, but quickly decayed after their sale by the 17th Earl in 1584. The Tudor house had a tower gateway that was used as a sea mark in the 16th century and a deer park was mentioned in 1475 ‘apparently in the south-east of the parish’ (VCH). Battleswick Farm would have been a highly conspicuous feature in the landscape as seen by its owners and builders, the Earls of Oxford, 2 from across the valley, and in consequence may have warranted a higher specification than would otherwise have been the case. It may have been occupied as something more than a normal farmhouse, but this is difficult to prove without extensive research in the manorial archive at Keele: houses commanding good views of approaching shipping are known to have been favoured by wealthy urban merchants, for example, and the former existence of a low- tide crossing between the two riverbanks would have enabled occupation by an official of the De Vere estate. Figure 2 ‘Battles Wick’ on the south-eastern edge of a hill spur overlooking the Colne as shown on Chapman & Andre’s map of 1777. The buildings are stylised. Before the construction of the present Rowhedge Road in the early-19th century the site was reached from the north, but is also likely to have been linked to the river on the east by ancient tracks that survive on the ground but are not depicted here. The Revd. Nicholas Corsellis lived in the remains of the De Vere’s Wivenhoe Hall immediately east of Battleswick Farm, with Wivenhoe church visible at bottom right. The farmhouse was highly visible from this direction. Old Heath to the north is shown as heath land but appears to be a corruption of Old Hithe (i.e. Old Quay), and the name is believed to derive from its proximity to Colchester’s early medieval and possibly Roman port. Corsellis held Cleavelands Farm from the Manor of Battleswick and probably did the same for Battleswick Farm itself (as his successor is known to have done in 1818 – see Appendix 1). The conspicuous position of Battleswick overlooking the Colne immediately south of Colchester’s original port suggests it may have held great strategic importance in the early Middle Ages and before, and evidence of early occupation might be expected on the site. 3 Figure 3 The First Edition 25 inch Ordnance Survey of 1875. Rowhedge Road is now present, but note the track that continues eastward to the River Colne and the land of Wivenhoe Hall on the opposite bank. Figure 3a A detail of the 1875 map showing the distinctive T-shaped outline of the farmhouse much as it remains today (and as on the 1839 tithe map which is not included here). 4 Figure 4. The Second Edition 25 inch Ordnance Survey of 1936, showing little change since 1875. Figure 5. The house in circa 1900 taken from the entrance track showing the lack of windows in the eastern gable. One of the two original first-floor windows has since been reopened. From a photograph in the possession of the tenants. 5 Figure 6 An image of circa 1900 showing the northern elevation with its small enclosed porch and weatherboarding. From an original photograph in the possession of the tenants.

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