Beauchamp Castle, Stoke Sub Hamdon

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Stoke under Ham; Stoke under Hampden; Gournay Castle

In the civil parish of Stoke Sub Hamdon.
In the historic county of Somerset (Modern Authority of Somerset, 1974 county of Somerset).

Fortified manor house granted a licence to crenellate in 1332/3, mentioned by Leland in 1540 as 'very notable ruins of a great manor place or castle'. Excavations in 1906 found foundations in a walled enclosure know as Manor Place. Excavations in 1976 found C14 outbuildings and a possible dovecote. There are no extant remains. King rejects this house as fortified.

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.

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1333 July 24.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is ST47681772

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; 193200

County Sites and Monuments Record number; 54584

• Web site links
  • http://webapp1.somerset.gov.uk/her/details.asp?prn=54584
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern) p83
    Dunning, Robert, 1995, Somerset Castles (Somerset Books) p66
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p446 [reject]
    Dunning, R.W. (ed), 1974, VCH Somerset Vol3 p237, 238, 239 and 248
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p410
• Journal Articles
  • Thompson, M.W., 1986, 'Associated monasteries and castles in the Middle Ages: a tentative list' Archaeological Journal Vol143 p319
    Leach, P.J., 1980, ‘Excavations at Stoke sub Hamdon Castle, Somerset, 1976' Somerset Archaeology and Natural History, 124 p61-76
    Leech, R.H., 1977, Stoke sub Hamdon Castle' Archaeological Excavations 1976 (HMSO) p146
    Aston, M., 1977 'Somerset Archaeology 1976' Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Vol121 p116
    Webster, L.E. and Cherry, J., 1977, ‘Medieval Britain in 1976' Medieval Archaeology Vol21 p238
    Leach, P.J., 1976 'Excavations at Stoke sub Hamdon Castle (interim)' SCPD
    Walter, H.R., 1906 'The Beauchamp Manor Place...' Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Vol52 p162-3
    Walter, W.W., 1889 'The Beauchamp Castle...' Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Vol35 p127-37
• 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 (1330-34) p494
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/dorseteng.html#somerset5]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p420, 427
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol1 p158; Vol5 p84-5