Manor house (remains of), Ore Place

Summary

The remains of a country house, 70m south of Ore Place Farmhouse.

Reasons for Designation

Country houses of the late Tudor and early Jacobean period comprise a distinctive group of buildings which differ in form, function, design and architectural style from country houses of both earlier and later date. Built after the dissolution of the monasteries they are the product of a particular historical period in which a newly-emerged Protestant elite of lawyers, courtiers, diplomats and other officials, mostly with close contacts at court, competed with each other to demonstrate wealth, taste and loyalty to the sovereign, often overstretching themselves financially. Their houses are a development of the medieval hall with flanking wings and a gatehouse, often looking inwards onto a courtyard. The hall was transformed from a reception area to an entrance vestibule and the long gallery and loggia were introduced. Country houses of this period were normally constructed under the supervision of one master-mason or a succession of masons, often combining a number of designs drawn up by the master-mason, surveyor or by the employer himself. Symmetry in both plan and elevation was an overriding principle, often carried to extremes in the Elizabethan architectural ‘devices’ in which geometric forms were employed to express religious and philosophical ideas. Elements of Classical architecture were drawn on individually rather than applied strictly in unified orders.

This complex network of influences resulted in liberal and idiosyncratic combinations of architectural styles which contrasted with the adoption of the architecture of the Italian Renaissance, and with it the role of the architect, later in the 17th century.

About 5000 country houses are known to have been standing in 1675; of these about 1000 are thought to survive, although most have been extensively altered or rebuilt in subsequent centuries to meet new demands and tastes. Houses which are uninhabited, and have thus been altered to a lesser degree, are much rarer. All examples with significant surviving archaeological remains are considered to be of national importance.

The remains of the country house at Ore Place has both upstanding and archaeological remains, which show the layout and structural details of a significant late 16th or early 17th century building. The house is likely to have had a considerable influence on the surrounding landscape and will provide information about the post-medieval history of the Hastings area.

History

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 4 December 2014. The record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes a country house surviving as upstanding ruins and below-ground archaeological remains. It is situated on a ridge 3.5km north of Hastings and is adjacent to a church dating from the 11th century, which forms a separate scheduled monument. The upstanding remains include parts of the walls, which are up to about 3m high and 0.7m thick. The south-east corner of a room, possible a hall, survives and contains a window of two lights with a moulded ashlar frame. The wall originally included a great fireplace. The south-west corner of the same room also survives up to about 1.5m high.

The site was partially excavated in 1991, which provided evidence that the building was an E-shaped or courtyard type country house of late 16th or early 17th century date. Medieval features and finds were also uncovered, indicating that a medieval manor house may be located nearby. The stone walls of an undercroft with evidence of brick flooring have also been found on the site. The stone from part of the country house has been robbed out in the past and used for a summerhouse.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

ES 156

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
NMR TQ81SW4. PastScape 417422.

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