MANOR HOUSE

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Manor house with a medieval core, encased and extended circa 1876. The medieval, rubble-built main block has a 17th century bay to the west, a 19th century bay to the east and two 19th century wings to the north. The house is surrounded by a moat, part of which has been converted into an ornamental pond. The moat is in turn surrounded by an outer enclosure comprising a earthen bank and ditch. A number of earthworks are visible in the area between the moat and the outer enclosure. These may represent earlier land divisions or village earthworks. A late 19th century excavation uncovered the foundations of a late 12th century gatehouse close to the house.

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Area: NZ 3461 1100 Manor House [NR]
Moat [NR]
Intrenchment [NR] (1)

The manor-house of Dinsdale is mentioned in 1537. The present manor-house is mainly Georgian and occupies the ancient site. It stands within a square enclosure surrounded by double-moats. Late 19th century excavations revealed the foundations of a large gate-house of late-12th century date which had contained vaulting and a newel stair. (2-4)

The name of the present house was confirmed to be `Manor House'. It has been heavily restored, the north front being modern and the south and east walls covered by imitation timber-framing. The west wall and north-west wing are built with rubble masonry. Photographs in the owner's possession show the 1878 excavations as immediately east of the present house and a 1716 painting shows a gate-house to the south east. All the earthworks are grass-covered and the construction of the banks is not visible. The inner and outer moats have been divided into enclosures by intermediate banks and ditches. (5-5a)

Earthworks surveyed at 1/2500. (6)

NZ 345 110. Deserted Medieval Village of Low Dinsdale. (7-8)

No change to the manor house earthworks, but the extensions on the east side have been ploughed out. These probably represented remnants of tenants tofts rather than those of a village. Published survey (25") revised. (9)

NZ 346 110 Manor House (NAT)
Earthworks (NR) (10)

NZ 346 109. Earthworks of Manor House. Scheduled. (11)

The Manor House. Manor house, probably late Medieval core; encased and extended c1876. This was the home of the Surtees family from the early 12th century until the 19th century. Grade II*. (12)

Existing survey revised by RCHME during a project on scheduled monuments in County Durham.
The earthworks comprise an outer polygonal enclosure defined by a ditch up to 1.5 m deep, fronting an earthen bank standing up to 2.5 m high above the ditch bottom. The inner scarp of the bank is 1.8 m high; some stone is visible in the matrix of the bank. What may have been an early entrance through the outer enclosure is located in the south-east where a hollow way 1.2 m deep leads into the interior. In the north half of the enclosure is a sub-circular moat surrounding the manor house. The broad U-shaped moat is up to 2 m deep, has been converted into an ornamental pond on its north side, and is crossed by a bridge to the south-south-east. Between the outer enclosure and the moat lie a series of scarps and banks, some linear, some irregular, and no higher than 1.3 m, which cut across one another without forming a coherent pattern. They are all truncated by the outer perimeter and/or the moat, suggesting that they may represent preserved fragments of earlier land divisions or village earthworks. Between the moat and Low Dinsdale farm a 33 m square levelled area is defined by scarps up to 0.6 m high, and is shown on the OS map of 1914 as a fenced area; this may originally have been a tennis court, bowling green or garden feature. The present manor house is superficially of 19th century Domestic Revival style, but may have earlier Medieval features beneath the exterior (13a). Late 19th century excavations immediately to the north-east of the manor-house discovered `the foundations and lower story (sic) of a large gate-house' which had a `square newel stairway and chambers which had been vaulted' (13b). The excavations were rapidly backfilled without being planned. This would suggest that originally access across the inner moat may have been a temporary bridge in the north-east which has left no trace; the stone bridge which crosses the moat in the south would thus appear to be a later feature. (13)

NZ 3460 1099. Medieval moated manorial site of Low Dinsdale at the Manor House. Scheduled RSM No 20873. (14)

Listed as a strong house by Cathcart King. (15)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6", map 1924

( 2) edited by William Page 1928 The Victoria history of the county of Durham, volume three

The Victoria history of the counties of England Victoria County History Durham Vol 3 1928 p217 Page(s)217

( 3) The buildings of England

Pevsner, N, 1953. Buildings of England: Durham p181 Page(s)181

( 4) Transactions of the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland

Trans Durham & Northumb Architec and Archaeol Soc 4 1890-5 p22 4 Page(s)22

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F1 DSmith/03-JUN-1957/OS Archaeology Division Field Investigator

( 5a) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

( 6) Field Investigators Comments

F2 RL/27-MAY-1963/OS Archaeology Division Field Investigator

( 7) edited by Maurice Beresford and John G Hurst 1971 Deserted medieval villages : studies

Page(s)186

( 8) Aerial photograph

APs (OS 66/217 066-7)

( 9) Field Investigators Comments

F3 RE/11-NOV-1981/OS Archaeology Division Field Investigator

( 10) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 1:10 000 map 1971

( 11) by Department of the Environment, Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings London 1978 List of ancient monuments in England: Volume 1, Northern England; Volume 2, Southern England; Volume 3, East Anglia and the Midlands

DOE (IAM) AMs England 1978 p23 Page(s)23

( 12) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

DOE (Listed Buildings) Dist of Darlington Durham 27-JAN-1988 p53

( 13) Field Investigators Comments

Peter Topping/29-JUL-1991/RCHME: Durham SAMs Project

(13a) by Nikolaus Pevsner ; revised by Elizabeth Williamson 1983 County Durham

The buildings of England Page(s)356

(13b) Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne

Proc Soc Antiqs Newcastle IX 1899 p61 9 Page(s)61

( 14) Scheduled Monument Notification

English Heritage Scheduling Amendment 27/1/94

(15) by David J Cathcart King 1983 Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the islands. Volume I : Anglesey - Montgomery

Page(s)140

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