BOARSTALL TOWER

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DESCRIPTION

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Built in the early 14th century, for John de Handle, as the gatehouse to a house that was demolished in the late 18th century. It was altered in the late 16th to 17th centuries and then again in the 20th century to be used as a house. It is built of coursed rubble stone with ashlar dressings and a lead roof and comprises a rectangular building with hexagonal corner towers. The rear towers are a little taller and contain stone spiral staircases. Traces of medieval drawings survive on the rear wall of the ground floor. A bridge, built in 1736, crosses the moat in front of the building.

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(SP 62431424) Boarstall Tower (NR) Moat (NR) (1)

A 14th century gatehouse with 16th century modifications formerly part of Boarstall House pulled down in the 18th century. The plan is rectangular with a hexagonal tower at each corner. The moat is about 60ft wide and has a strong inner rampart. The E arm is obliterated. Grade I. (2-3)

The gatehouse of a large house for which licence to crenellate was obtained in 1312. The late 17th century stables now a farmhouse. (4)

Given to the National Trust in 1943. (5)

Boarstall Tower (name confirmed) is a small gatehouse converted to use as a residence without damage to its external appearance. The converted 17th century stables at SP 62411428, now called "Tower Farm", are not outstanding (See illustration cards).

Boarstall moat occupies a level site and is fed by surface drainage. It is about 1.7m deep to water level, and from 12.0m to 20.0m wide at the top. There is no clear 'inner rampart' (2) and a raised area approximately 15.0m wide and 0.5m high around the inner side of the moat seems like the depredation of formal gardens. (6)

A print of 1675 by W Burgher shows a large rather Elizabethan house parallel to the gatehouse across the centre of the enclosure and enclosed by formal walks and at that time there was no E arm to the moat.

Surveyed at 1:2500 on PFD. (7)

Listed by Cathcart King. (8)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1960

( 2) Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England) 1912 An inventory of the historical monuments in Buckinghamshire, volume one [south]

Page(s)57-9

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

District of Aylesbury Vale Bucks June 1949 Page(s)11

( 4) by Nikolaus Pevsner 1960 Buckinghamshire

The buildings of England Page(s)68-9

( 5) General reference

National Trust Properties h d 3

( 6) Field Investigators Comments

F1 NVQ 28-FEB-77

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

District of Aylesbury Vale (26th Febraury 1985) 397 Page(s)2

(8) 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)26

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