Information for record number MWA206:
Site of Abbess's Lodgings at Polesworth Abbey

Summary The site of the Abbess' lodgings were part of Polesworth Abbey which is medieval in date. Parts of the lodgings were later reused in the building of a manor house on the same site. The site is located 200m east of Bridge Street, Polesworth.
What Is It?  
Type: Monastery, Lodgings
Period: Medieval (1066 AD - 1539 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Polesworth
District: North Warwickshire, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SK 26 02
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection National - Old SMR PrefRef (Grade: )
Sites & Monuments Record
Description

  
Source Number  

1 After the Dissolution the site of Polesworth Abbey passed to Francis Goodere, whose son Sir Henry fashioned a manor house out of, or on the site of, the Abbess's lodgings, W of the cloisters (see MWA207). The dining room of the later vicarage includes some material from the manor house, including a roof of three bays in which are two large pointed arches formed by hollow-chamfered beams, probably of the 15th century, carried on later wood corbels.
2 manor house built out of or on site of Abbess's lodgings replaced c1870 by the vicarage.
3 A programme of recording and observation was undertaken by Warwickshire Museum Field Services group between 2002-2006. A reburied medieval stone coffin and part of a brick vault was recorded in the interior of the church, during the excavation of a statue base. medieval and later masonry was recorded during limited excavation outside the church. This may have belonged either to a monastic range west of the west range to the cloister, perhaps part of the Abbess' Lodging, or to the west end of a building set against the church. An undercroft was also recorded.
4Trial trenching in 2007 to the southeast of the vicarage recorded a large east-west aligned building with a mostly robbed-out tile floor, terraced into a series of make-up layers in the late-13th/early-14th-century. The building is too far south to be the frater, but may have been part of the Abbess' Lodging or a guest hall. After the dissolution the building was demolished and the area landscaped.
 
Sources
Source No: 1
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: Victoria County History, vol 4, Warwickshire
Author/originator: Salzman L F (ed)
Date: 1947
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: 4
   
Source No: 4
Source Type: Evaluation Report
Title: Archaeological Evaluation at Polesworth Vicarage, Polesworth Abbey
Author/originator: Gethin B & Palmer N
Date: 2007
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: 0746
   
Source No: 3
Source Type: Observation Report
Title: Archaeological Recording at Polesworth Abbey, Warwickshire 2002-2006
Author/originator: N Palmer and C Coutts
Date: 2006
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Record Card/Form
Title: OS Card 29NE1
Author/originator: Ordnance Survey
Date: 1967
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: 29NE1
   
Source No: 4
Source Type: Serial
Title: WMA (West Midlands Archaeology) vol 50
Author/originator: CBA West Midlands
Date: 2007
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Images:  
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
source OS Card Ordnance Survey Record Card. Before the 1970s the Ordnance Survey (OS) were responsible for recording archaeological monuments during mapping exercises. This helped the Ordnance Survey to decide which monuments to publish on maps. During these exercises the details of the monuments were written down on record cards. Copies of some of the cards are kept at the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. The responsibility for recording archaeological monuments later passed to the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments. back
source WMA West Midlands Archaeology. This publication contains a short description for each of the sites where archaeological work has taken place in the previous year. It covers Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. Some of these descriptions include photographs, plans and drawings of the sites and/or the finds that have been discovered. The publication is produced by the Council For British Archaeology (CBA) West Midlands and is published annually. Copies are held at the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. back
technique excavation Archaeologists excavate sites so that they can find information and recover archaeological materials before they are destroyed by erosion, construction or changes in land-use.

Depending on how complicated and widespread the archaeological deposits are, excavation can be done by hand or with heavy machinery. Archaeologists may excavate a site in a number of ways; either by open area excavation, by digging a test pit or a trial trench.
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period Medieval 1066 AD to 1539 AD (the 11th century AD to the 16th century AD)

The medieval period comes after the Saxon period and before the post medieval period.

The Medieval period begins in 1066 AD.
This was the year that the Normans, led by William the Conqueror (1066 – 1087), invaded England and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in East Sussex.
The Medieval period includes the first half of the Tudor period (1485 – 1603 AD), when the Tudor family reigned in England and eventually in Scotland too.

The end of the Medieval period is marked by Henry VIII’s (1509 – 1547) order for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the years running up to 1539 AD. The whole of this period is sometimes called the Middle Ages.
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monument LAYER * An archaeological unit of soil in a horizontal plane which may seal features or be cut through by other features. back
monument HOLLOW * A hollow, concave formation or place, which has sometimes been dug out. back
monument SITE * Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type wherever possible. back
monument COFFIN * A chest made of stone, wood or lead, used to enclose a dead body. back
monument VICARAGE * The residence of a vicar, parson or rector. back
monument BUILDING * A structure with a roof to provide shelter from the weather for occupants or contents. Use specific type where known. back
monument LODGINGS * Accommodation in hired rooms or a lodging house. back
monument STONE * Use only where stone is natural or where there is no indication of function. back
monument MANOR HOUSE * The principal house of a manor or village. back
monument ARCH * A structure over an opening usually formed of wedge-shaped blocks of brick or stone held together by mutual pressure and supported at the sides; they can also be formed from moulded concrete/ cast metal. A component; use for free-standing structure only. back
monument FLOOR * A layer of stone, brick or boards, etc, on which people tread. Use broader site type where known. back
monument VAULT * An underground room or building with an arched roof, often used as a burial chamber. Use wider site type where known. back
monument CHURCH * A building used for public Christian worship. Use more specific type where known. back
monument ABBEY * A religious house governed by an abbot or abbess. Use with narrow terms of DOUBLE HOUSE, MONASTERY or NUNNERY. back
monument CLOISTER * A covered walk, walled on one side and usually arcaded on the other, surrounding or partly surrounding an open area in a monastery or similar complex of Christian buildings. back
monument FIELD * An area of land, often enclosed, used for cultivation or the grazing of livestock. back
monument MUSEUM * A building, group of buildings or space within a building, where objects of value such as works of art, antiquities, scientific specimens, or other artefacts are housed and displayed. back
monument BRIDGE * A structure of wood, stone, iron, brick or concrete, etc, with one or more intervals under it to span a river or other space. Use specific type where known. back
monument WOOD * A tract of land with trees, sometimes acting as a boundary or barrier, usually smaller and less wild than a forest. back
monument MONASTERY * Houses specifically of monks, canons or religious men but not friars. back
monument UNDERCROFT * A vault or crypt under a church or chapel. Use wider site type where known. back
monument STATUE * A representation in the round of a living being, allegorical personage, eminent person or animal, etc, sculptured, moulded or cast in marble, metal, plaster, etc. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record