Life in the manor house

The most important room in the manor was the hall, where guests were received and important events held.

Aerial view cutaway reconstruction drawing by liam wales © English Heritage photo library This was the main reception or public room and would have been open to the timber roof. Each side of the hall would have supported benches, with a dais and high table at the far end.

A service block was contained at one end of the building. It would have contained a pantry and buttery, and a passage that led through to an outside courtyard. Excavations there have revealed a free-standing kitchen, used for the preparation of animals and other foodstuffs. A boundary wall shielded this busy and probably smelly courtyard from the view of important arriving visitors crossing the moat.

A plan of the building showing the original layout and the remains that stand today At the other end of the hall was a taller, three storey chamber block. Above a vaulted ground floor, probably used for storage, was a suite of private chambers with a mural fireplace. To the rear of these chambers was a latrine block, containing three cubicles which drained into a room at ground floor level. This could be regularly cleaned through a small door near the moat.