Southcote House

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Southcote Manor

In the civil parish of Reading.
In the historic county of Berkshire (Modern Authority of Reading, 1974 county of Berkshire).

Site of a once fortified C15 moated house; demolished circa 1922. Descheduled 27-10-1992. Description of house before demolition in VCH reads "Southcote Manor is a two-storied brick house, mainly of the first half of the 17th century, much modernized outside and in, and stands upon the moated site of an earlier fortified house, of which a tower or guard-house at the north-east angle of the area within the moat, dating from the late 15th century, with a fragment of the brick wall of enceinte, still survives. The tower or guard-house is a square building of brick, with truncated angles, two stories in height. The window dressings are of stone, and the upper courses project upon a corbel-table; the whole is crowned by a pyramidal tiled roof. In the ground floor is a deep tank or well, or possibly a cellar, arched over. At the south-west is a doorway with a segmental pointed head, and light is obtained by small trefoiled loops. The first floor has a doorway in the south wall, which must have originally opened on to the top of the wall which encircled the site, traces of its junction with the tower being visible below. This floor is also lighted by small trefoiled loops, and there are buttresses in the centre of the east and north walls. A fragment of the northern wall of enceinte remains upon the west face. The mansion itself is a brick house facing north, two stories in height above ground, with a central entrance hall and apartments on either side, and two large wings projecting southwards. At the north-west is a modern tower of stone with a saddle-back roof, designed in a very incongruous style. The entrance doorway, which is contained in a projection a little to the east of the centre, is flanked by Doric pilasters and surmounted by a curved pediment. At the east end of the elevation is a square bay. With the exception of the window over the entrance, the windows of this elevation have been gothicized in modern times. A string-course of moulded brick marks the level of the first floor. A hipped roof with an eaves cornice surmounts the building, the central projection and bay on the east having also hipped roofs. Little of interest remains internally, and there is much modern work at the rear. The moat is now crossed by a timber bridge, on the north side of which, placed axially with the entrance of the house, is a fine pair of 18th-century wroughtiron gates with good scrollwork above. There appears to have been a square entrance court on this side of the moat formed by the still existing gate-house on the south, a two-storied 17th-century building of brick with a large arched carriageway, the stables on the east, which have disappeared, and a walled kitchen garden on the west."

This site has been described as a;
Fortified Manor House.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Nothing visible remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SU69217170

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 241416

• Web site links
  • http://www.berkshirehistory.com/castles/southcote_house.html
    
• Books
  • Page, Wm and Ditchfield, P.H. (eds), 1923, VCH Berkshire Vol3 p366 [etching] http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=43227
• Journal Articles
  • 1978, CBA Research Report 17 Medieval Moated Sites p30,33,39
    Slade, C.F., 1977-78, The Berkshire Archaeological Journal Berkshire Archaeological Society Vol69 p49-59
    Hurst, D Gillian, 1967, 'Medieval Britain in 1966: II. Post-Conquest' Medieval Archaeology Vol11 p297
    Dormer, E.W., 1904, Transactions of the Berkshire Archaeological and Architectural Society Berkshire Archaeological Society Vol10 p7-15