Site of Manor House at Polesworth Vicarage

1 After the dissolution the site of Polesworth Abbey passed to Francis Goodere, whose son Sir Henry fashioned a manor house out of or on the site of the Abbess’s lodgings (MWA206). This mansion was replaced in about 1870 by the vicarage, but some material from the manor house was re-used. This includes a fireplace in the dining hall.
2 Manor house built on or out of Abbess’s lodgings.
3 A programme of recording and observation was undertaken by Warwickshire Museum Field Services group between 2002-2006. Some features related to the post-medieval Polesworth Hall were recorded. The sandstone foundations of the north end of the post-medieval Polesworth Hall ran to the south-west corner of the church. To the east the early masonry was cut by the north-eastern ocrner of as cellar lined with 18th/19th-century bricks belonging to a rear range of the Hall. Layers contemporary with the Hall appeared to be cut by the construction trench for the south wall of the nave of the church, suggesting that it is an 18th-century replacement for the original medieval wall. The manor house was demolished in the late 1870s when the existing Vicarage was built. The previous entrance passageway between the Vicarage and Church had been added by 1886.
4 Mapped extent of hall altered based upon interpretation of 19th century plans.