Acton Court

In the civil parish of Iron Acton.
In the historic county of Gloucestershire (Modern Authority of Bristol; City of, 1974 county of Avon).

A C14 moated house. Court Farm is the state apartment and half the long gallery of a mid C16 courtier house of considerable pretension. It exhibits important classical details comparable to those at Lacock and is surrounded by the ruins and below ground remains of the rest of the house. Iron Acton was the principal seat of one of the branches of the Poyntz family who were prominent at court for much of the 16th century. This explains why the house is of such high quality and in such an advanced style. Even in its incomplete and damaged state, it ranks among the half-doxen most important examples of the court style of the 1540s and 50s, a period that saw the introduction into England of the assured and distinctive classicism recently developed in France. The surviving house is in the midst of late C16 - early C17 house, now farmhouse. It is of rubble construction with double Roman tile roofs. To the west are the earthworks of garden terraces and to the north are earthworks which may represent an associated farm/estate complex.

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

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 350704)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is ST67708419

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; 201562

• Web site links
  • http://www.actoncourt.com/
• Books
  • Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses Vol3 (Cambridge) p48-50, 132 [reconstruction]
    Rodwell, K. and Bell, R., 2004, Acton Court
    Verey, David, 1976, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire: the Vale and the Forest of Dean p277-8
• Journal Articles
  • Bell, Robert, 1990, 'Fit for a King' English Heritage Magazine
    1987, Archaeology Today p18
    Williams, B., 1986, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Vol104 p240-1
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p185