Manor Farm, Ruislip1
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MANOR FARM, RUISLIP1 Geraint Franklin SUMMARY parlour, hall and service area) and post- medieval vernacular plan types. Also indicat- Manor Farm, Ruislip is an early 16th-century build- ive of a transitional character is Manor Farm’s ing which combined the twin functions of manorial mixed construction and lack of a continuous court house and home farm of King’s College, jetty: unusually, a close-studded upper storey Cambridge. The building, of mixed timber-frame is recessed from a brick ground floor. The and brick construction, is a rare example of a sub- house incorporated a number of prestigious gentry, early modern building where both building features such as timber-framed, canted oriel accounts and fabric survive, enabling an insight into windows and a garderobe, close-studding with a building culture in transition. This paper sets out patterned brick nogging, brick diaperwork, the circumstances and tenurial contexts under which Manor Farm was constructed in 1505—6. INTRODUCTION Manor Farm is today islanded in the sub- urban landscape of Ruislip, in the London Borough of Hillingdon (formerly within Middlesex). It is one element of a multi- period site, comprising a motte and bailey of early Norman date, within which a small, non-conventual Benedictine priory was estab- lished in the later 12th century (Fig 1).2 The demesne later became part of the estate of King’s College, Cambridge, who leased it to an absentee manorial tenant, who in turn subleased to a resident farmer. From the mid- 15th century, the complex was thus a home farm, although manorial courts continued to be held at Ruislip. The rebuilding of Manor Farm in 1505—6 represented an improvement of the accommodation and replaced some (although not all) of the medieval priory buildings, which had fallen into disrepair. The building of 1505—6, comprising a two-storeyed hall and cross-wing, is an early example of a fully-floored hall house with an integral brick stack (Figs 2—4). It is thus Fig 1. Detail of estate map of 1750 by John Doharty something of a ‘missing link’ in Middlesex (RUI/450) (By permission of the Provost and Scholars, between the medieval hall-house (comprising King’s College, Cambridge) 249 250 Geraint Franklin Fig 2. West elevation of Manor Farm in 2007 (DP040077; © English Heritage) and heavily moulded ceiling beams to the previously speaker of the House of Commons. principal rooms. The manorial court was The dated documents correspond with a held in the two-bay hall. The cross-wing at the date range of 1506—11 established by a recent ‘high end’ of the hall may have functioned as tree-ring survey.4 a suite for the use of the visiting provost or steward, with a large heated parlour in which THE DEVELOPMENT OF MANOR to convene between court sessions and an FARM ‘en suite’ parlour chamber above, complete with garderobe. Whilst the settlement and development A sequence of building accounts relating of Ruislip has been set out in a number of to Manor Farm, recently located in the arch- accounts, from J J Roumieu’s History of 1875, ives of King’s College, provides rare detail through Braun’s Earliest Ruislip of 1937 to about the construction of a surviving 16th- Eileen Bowlt’s The Goodliest Place in Middlesex century building, the processing and trans- (1989), a brief summary is necessary here port of materials, and the wages and working to set the documentary evidence in context. conditions of the craftsmen.3 The accounts After Edmonton, Ruislip was the largest reveal that Manor Farm was erected in 1505— medieval parish in Middlesex, comprising 6, over the space of two building seasons an area of some 6,350 acres encompassing by a team that included both masons and the modern areas of Ruislip, Northwood, carpenters. The decision to rebuild may Eastcote, Ruislip Manor and South Ruislip.5 relate to the incoming manorial lessee The growth of medieval Ruislip can be attrib- Robert Drury (d.1535) of Hawstead, Suffolk, uted to a number of factors: its size, proximity Manor Farm, Ruislip 251 [Academic use only] Fig 3. Ground floor plan (Drawing by Andrew Donald based on surveys by Linda Hall and Westwaddy ADP; © English Heritage) 252 Geraint Franklin [Academic use only] Fig 4. First floor plan (Drawing by Andrew Donald based on surveys by Linda Hall and Westwaddy ADP; © English Heritage) Manor Farm, Ruislip 253 Fig 5. The ditch circuit to the north-west of Manor Farm, infilled in 1888, but still visible (Photograph by Derek Kendall; DP042389; © English Heritage) to London, the presence of a crossing place ditch circuit (see Fig 5). The motte is c.45m on the river Pinn, which bisects the parish, (c.150ft) across, now a low mound rising to and the exploitation of its natural resources, some 3m (10ft) above the base of the bailey which included productive arable land, ditch, which is some 4m (13ft) wide at its clayfields, and heavily wooded areas north of widest point. It probably had a small wooden the Pinn. castle. The motte and bailey represented Prior to the Conquest the entire manor one of at least five early Norman castles in belonged to a thane of Edward the Confessor, Middlesex, the others being the Tower of Wlward Wit, who held land in 11 counties.6 London, Baynard’s Castle, Montfichet’s The importance of Saxon Ruislip is indicated Castle and South Mymmes.8 by its park of ‘wild beasts of the forest’ Shortly after the making of Domesday book, (ferarum silvaticarum), one of 31 such parks Hesding granted Ruislip to the Benedictine recorded in the Domesday survey. To the abbey of Bec Hellouin in Normandy.9 Al- north was a wooded common, later known though no conventual complex ever existed as the outwood, great wood or common at Ruislip, a prior’s residence was founded wood.7 After 1066 the Manor was granted to in the reign of Henry II (1154—89). This Ernulf de Hesding, who held in total about probably supported the prior and his socius 28,000 acres of land in southern England. (assistant) who administered the estates; a In 1086 Ruislip manor was valued at ‘£20 in Prior of Ruislip is first named in 1176, and two total value, when received £12, in the time of cathedra (the chair or throne of an official) King Edward £30’. 53 people are referred to, were recorded in a 1434 inventory.10 The implying c.250 inhabitants, living in around manor was farmed by the Priory, although 50 dwellings. the demesne was occasionally leased in the Manor Farm is located within the bailey of 13th century.11 By 1250 the demesne had a motte and bailey complex of early Norman been divided into three parts, managed from date, on ground sloping down to the former the manor house at Ruislip and from granges 254 Geraint Franklin at Northwood and Bourne in the open fields the manor, which continued until the perm- to the south.12 anent confiscation of the English properties During the height of its importance in the of Bec. The buildings at Ruislip became dil- 13th and early 14th centuries, Ruislip Priory apidated: repairs were necessary to the aula was the residence of the Proctor-General and (hall) and cameras (rooms) as early as 1324. the administrative centre for Bec’s interests Ancient weathering at the top of the east in England,13 the principal evidence for posts of the Great Barn may indicate that the this being three inventories of 1294, 1324 structure was partially unroofed during this and 1435, made during periods of Crown period of neglect.20 confiscation. Of the 907 acres in demesne The discovery, during the present works, in 1294, approximately three quarters were of a fragment of carved bone inlay from an under cultivation, and the value of the early 15th-marriage casket, possibly of French manor was estimated at £81.14 The annual origin, suggests that links with Bec continued centralised audit was held at Ruislip, where up to the final confiscation of Ruislip.21 In a counting house and counting board were 1404 Henry jointly granted the manor to recorded in 1435. The Priory also constituted his third son, John of Lancaster, William de the venue for Ruislip’s manorial courts. St Vaast (Prior of Ogbourne) and Thomas The c.900 acres of arable in demesne sup- Langley (Dean of York). The Prior’s death ported a sizeable household, with surplus shortly after severed the last link between Bec being sold to the London market to generate and Ruislip, although knowledge of ‘French additional income and exported to the home Friars’ remained in the oral lore of Ruislip and Priory at Bec.15 In 1324 the customary tenants Cambridge for many generations.22 Prince included four men employed in carrying John (the Duke of Bedford after 1414) re- goods between Ruislip and London.16 Due mained the lord of the manor until his death to its extensive woods, the demesne was also in 1435, when Ruislip reverted to the Crown. one of the largest producers of timber in An inventory of that year, entitled ‘List of Middlesex, and sales of firewood and timber deadstock remaining in the Manor’, suggests to the London market realised £26 a year in that the house remained partially furnished 1442. In the 16th century, wood and timber but disused. By this time, the majority of the were carted from Ruislip Wood to Brentford villagers were paying money rents rather than wharf, from whence it was transported rendering labour services.23 downriver to London.17 It is likely that this In 1437 the manor was leased by Henry VI was a long-established route.