Pawton

In the civil parish of St Breock.
In the historic county of Cornwall (Modern Authority of Cornwall, 1974 county of Cornwall).

Medieval manor house, chapel and deer park owned by the Bishops of Exeter. The deer park was enclosed circa 1258. The buildings are now used as a farm and include an early C17 tithe barn.

This site has been described as a Palace. A high status manor house. That is a fundamentally domestic building of a high status person usual a bishop or member of the royal family. Usually more elaborate that a fortified manor but a small bishops palace, such as the one at Lyddington might be quite modest compared to a large fortified manor. All these high status building had some fortifications, if only to keep out thieves, but were probably not seen, even by the contemporary people, as being military buildings. Included in this definition, for the purposes of this site, are Royal hunting lodges. These could vary from sizable buildings, even castles, with courts and gaols to simple timber building providing short term accommodation.

The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.

Masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 67681)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SW958700

Modern Map from

Good for landscape form and features

Modern Map from

Good for general location

Air Photo from

1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 430949

Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses Vol3 (Cambridge) p549-51
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p177
  Longden, Preb. A,, 1968, Church and Parish of St Breoke with additions by Francis Hodges
  Rowse, A.L. and Henderson, M.I. (eds) Henderson, Charles, 1963, Essays in Cornish History p157
  Elliott-Binns, L.E., 1955, Medieval Cornwall p302-5
  Lake, J., 1872 [reprinted 1974], Parochial History of the County of Cornwall
Journal Articles
- Reed, J., 1971, 'Parish Checklist' Cornish Archaeology Vol10 p107
  Henderson, C., 1953-6, 'Ecclesiastical History' Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall Vol2 p41-3

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations.

It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

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The comprehensive gazetteer of the medieval fortifications and castles of Cornwall

With thanks to Philip Davis

Pawton

Medieval manor house, chapel and deer park owned by the Bishops of Exeter. The deer park was enclosed circa 1258. The buildings are now used as a farm and include an early C17 tithe barn.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SW958700

Sources of information, references and further reading