Medieval moated manor, Southminster Hall (EHER 11359)

Southminster Hall, of probable medieval but unknown construction date, was known to have been given to Edward VI in 1550. A large H-shaped house is recorded on a survey from 1790. Part of a circular moat has been identified at the site, and survives as only the north side and north-west and north-east angles.

Part of a circular moat at the Hall identified by Paula Cook from an estate plan (probably in the Essex Record Office, Chelmsford) and which enclosed about 1 acre. In 1086 the land was held by the Bishop of London in demesne. <1> <2> <3> <11> Ordnance Survey aerial photos show a possible continuation to the West of the hall of the curved water feature at TQ 9654 9942 which may be part of the alleged moat. On the Chapman and Andre map are drawn the remains of a rectangular moat of which only the North side and NW and NE angles survive. <3> <4> In a 1790 survey of Southminster and Mayland a circular moat is clearly shown with a large H-shaped house and other buildings within the moated area. <5> A plan-sketch from <5> is in the HER. <6> The Bishop of London must have had a hall on his demesne, presumed to have stood on the site of the medieval Southminster Hall. This would have served as the manorial administrative centre as well as housing the Bishop’s steward, farm-workers, agricultural equipment and produce and possibly the priest. Southminster Hall was given to Edward VI in 1550 , who in turn granted it to Thomas Lord Darcy. Wright (1836) records that a chapel once stood in the hall-yard of Southminster Hall, and that it bore on its Eastern end a Latin inscription, that read in translation ‘In the year of the Incarnation, 1573, this chapel was built in memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary’. By 1836 the building was being used as a barn. It is presumed that this building was a private Catholic chapel for the inhabitants of the hall. The hall and manor were sold in 1585 to Thomas Sutton. <7> <8> <9> Excavations by the Burnham U3A have identified the medieval foundations of the Bishop's Solar block. <10> See aerial photograph <11>. Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import (NRHE 420481).