Harpham Manor and Church of St John of Beverley

In the civil parish of Harpham.
In the historic county of Yorkshire East Riding (Modern Authority of East Riding of Yorkshire, 1974 county of Humberside).

The buried and earthwork remains of the medieval manor house of the St Quintin family together with an area of medieval settlement remains. The monument lies at the heart of Harpham village adjacent and to the west of St John's Church. Before the Norman Conquest the village was in the hands of three landowners. The principal landholding was the manor of Burton Agnes which was held by Earl Morcar but which then passed to William the Conqueror after Morcar rebelled in 1071. In 1199 Harpham was separated from Burton Agnes and passed from the Stutvilles to the St Quintin family via marriage. Harpham then became the principal seat of a branch of the family until they moved to Scampston Hall some time in C17. Adjacent to the parish church, is a large enclosure which is partly defined by a moat and a broad bank. This enclosure contained the medieval hall of the St Quintin's. To the north of the church there is a series of crofts and tofts with at least one levelled building platform. At the west end of the field to the west, north of Hall Garth Farm, there is a series of four of five smaller crofts, narrower and shorter than those north of the church. To the east of these stands a large depression over 25m across and 1.5m deep which is interpreted as the silted remains of a village pond. In the north western quarter of the manorial enclosure there are at least four building platforms. These are considered to be the locations of farm buildings attached to the manor house. Just to the east of this area the general ground level is higher. This is considered to be the location of the manorial hall and the core service buildings. To the north of this there is a broad level area 50m east-west and 20m wide. To the south of the churchyard there is a series of broad terraced areas which are interpreted as gardens attached to the manor house. The moat that surrounded the site included the church. A licence to crenellate the belfry of the chapel of Harpham was obtained in 1374 but although this presumable resulted in the west tower this is not a defensive structure.

This site has been described as a;
Fortified Ecclesiastical site
Fortified Manor House.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Major remains.

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1374 Feb 3.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 166899)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TA09236158

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; 79621, 79631

• Web site links
  • http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_north/101/harphamchurch.htm
• Books
  • Allison, K.J. (ed), 1974, VCH Yorkshire; East Riding Vol2 p224
    Le Patourel, H.E. Jean, 1973, The Moated Sites of Yorkshire (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series 5) p113
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p417
• Journal Articles
  • Coulson, C., 1982, 'Hierarchism in Conventual Crenellation: An Essay in the Sociology and Metaphysics of Medieval Fortification' Medieval Archaeology Vol26 p69-100
• 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 (1370-74) p407