Rugh Combe

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Rughcombe; Roughcombe; Ruscombe

In the civil parish of West Tisbury. In the historic county of Wiltshire (Modern Authority of Wiltshire, 1974 county of Wiltshire).

Thomas West obtained, in 1327, licence to crenellate his 'mansum' at Rugh Combe, Wiltshire. The West family became the Lords de la Warre.
RUGHCOMBE CASTLE (11 S. vii. 327). This was a crenellated house in the parish of Tisbury, Wiltshire, and all that is known about it will be found in Hoare's ' History of Wiltshire,' vol. v., Dunworth Hundred, p. 130 et seq. Licence to crenellate it was granted by patent 1 Edward III. (Fry)
Roughcombe was presumably a small settlement in the late 13th century when a surname was derived from it, a manor house was called Roughcombe in the early 14th century, and Roughcombe manor apparently included several tenements and a mill in the later 14th century. By the 16th century all those buildings may have been abandoned. The name Roughlawn, in use in 1716 and applied to an area north of Newtown, suggests that the land of Roughcombe may have been divided among the farms north-east of Newtown with 'Lawn' in their names: if so, in the 14th century Roughcombe may have stood beside Oddford brook. (VCH)
Despite the lack of any remains it is recorded that the 'son Sir Thomas (d. 1386) had a park called Roughcombe which he enlarged between 1376 and 1379.' (VCH–ref. Cal. Pat. 1374–7, 287) which suggest there was a house of some sort there. On the suggestion of the VCH I tentatively place this at Lawn Farm.
The next grant is to Thomas West, in the first year of Edward III. (1327), to crenellate his house at "Rugh Combe, Wilts," now Ruscombe, a parish in a portion of Wiltshire, isolated in the county of Berks, north-east of Reading. The living of Rugh Combe was formerly a peculiar, under the jurisdiction of the Dean of Salisbury. (Peacock, 1889) This is incorrect and the known history of Ruscombe does not support this.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is ST927296

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular '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, or elsewhere.

• Books
  • Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses Vol3 (Cambridge) p695
    Crowley, D.A. (ed), 1987, 'Parishes: Tisbury' VCH Wiltshire Vol13 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=116126
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p408
    Hoare, R.C., 1829, The history of modern Wiltshire Vol5 Dunworth Hundred, p130-
• Journal Articles
  • Fry, E.A., 1913, Aug 9, Notes and Queries Series11 Vol8 p118 http://www.archive.org/stream/s11notesqueries02londuoft#page/118/mode/1up
    Peacock, E., 1889, 'Licence to Crenellate' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol24 p128 http://www.archive.org/stream/wiltshirearchaeo24arch#page/128/mode/2up [incorrected identification as Ruscombe, Berkshire]
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1327-30) p130