Hunsdon House

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Honesdon; Hunsdon Tower

In the civil parish of Hunsdon.
In the historic county of Hertfordshire (Modern Authority of Hertfordshire, 1974 county of Hertfordshire).

Mid C15 moated tower house, altered 1527-34 for Henry VIII. Queen Elizabeth granted the house to Sir Henry Carey in 1558/59. Further alterations and extensions were made in the first half of C17. The western parts were demolished circa 1745 and the moat was infilled circa 1788. The house was replanned and rebuilt 1805-11 and altered again circa 1861. Brick-built and three storeyed, with a two storey service wing to the west and a gatehouse to the north west. Licence to crenellate granted to Richard, Duke of York in 1447.

This site has been described as a;
Tower House
Palace.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Masonry ruins/remnants remains.

listed building

Images of England

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TL41901275

PastScape number; 370200

Books

Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p259
Thurley, Simon, 1993, The Royal Palaces of Tudor England (Yale University Press) p49, 80, 81
Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1982, The history of the King's Works Vol4: 1485-1660 (part 2) (London) p155-7
Pevsner, Nikolas and Cherry, Bridget, 1977, The Buildings of England Hertfordshire (Harmondsworth) p141-2
Page, Wm (ed), 1912, VCH Hertford Vol3 p324-5
RCHME, 1910, An inventory of the historical monuments in Hertfordshire p128

Journal Articles

Coulson, C., 1994, 'Freedom to Crenellate by Licence - An Historiographical Revision' Nottingham Medieval Studies Vol38 p119
Partridge, C., 1984, Hertfordshire's past Vol217 p15-24

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 (1446-52) p77

Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)

William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/buckseng.html#herts8]

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.

It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

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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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Hunsdon House

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TL41901275

Sources of information, references and further reading