Possible Site of Sambourne Manor House

1 In 1478 Thomas Morgan owned Sambourne manor house, called ‘Taillors’ after a previous tenant. In the C18th/C19th a house called Tailors occupied the site of the now Middletown Farm. To the west of the modern farm house is building platforrm on which a cottage is marked on maps of the C18th and C19th centuries. Ditches define a rectangular enclosure to the west. A bank and ditch run south of the platform, the bank serving as a headland for ridge and furrow which runs down to a stream to the west. A slight rectangular mound which lies to the east of the ditch could mark the site of a building. The southern edge of the site is defined by a holloway. Beyond it lies an extensive ridge and furrow system. Presumably the enclosure occupied by the modern farm complex was also part of the manor house complex, however the amount of land even including this is rather restricted for such a major manor house, and it seems likely that the land to the south west of the farm was once part of the manorial enclosure. Another possibility is that the medieval manor house extended to the north across Middletown Lane. Source includes plan of earthworks.