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Columbine Hall

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Columbyne Hall

In the civil parish of Stowupland. In the historic county of Suffolk (Modern Authority of Suffolk, 1974 county of Suffolk).

This site has been described as a;
Fortified Manor House.
  Confidence: It is probable that this site was a medieval fortification or palace.   Major remains.
Trapezoidal moat with an island of 0.8 acres. The moat is widest on the west and north sides; these two sides were wet at the time of visit (September 1990), the other two sides were largely dry. Access is via a causeway on the south side. The existing house lies at the north-west corner of the island. West and north walls of the house rise sheer from the edge of the moat; these are constructed of mortared flint (heavily repaired with brick) upto first floor level, with a jettied, timber-framed, upper storey. Dated as late C14 or circa 1400. In the middle of the west wall there is a large blocked entrance indicating that this range must have functioned, in part at least, as a gatehouse. Access must have been across a wooden bridge, now no longer extant. This suggests that the original frontage of the moat was the broad west side and that the present entrance in the narrow south side may be secondary. There is mortared flint revetting to the moated island along at least half of the north side and there is an isolated fragment of mortared flint walling lying at the bottom of the moat on the east side; elsewhere the edges are too overgrown to ascertain whether revetting is present or not. The house has a C19 brick addition at its east end. The farm buildings lie within a ditched enclosure on the south side. (Suffolk HER)
Emery writes "almost contemporary with Wingfield Castle, but the upper half of the ranges of this quadrangular moated site were timber-framed and closer in character to the very considerable number of moated manor houses in East Anglia than the region's fortified houses."
This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 280652)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TM06776082

Air Photo from multimap logo

Air Photo and general mapping

1st edition OS Map from old maps logo

Mid to late 19th century maps

Modern Map from Ordnance Survey logo

Landscape form and features

Modern Map from streetmap logo

General location and route planning

Geograph British Isles geography.org.uk logo
occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 387014
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is SUP 003 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes. I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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This record last updated on Thursday, December 17, 2009

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