ARLEY MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The record is the Warwickshire manor of Arley in the parish now comprising Old Arley and New Arley, not the unrelated Arley manors in Cheshire or Worcestershire. The historical names are corroborated by records identifying Arley with Slowley/Sloley, including a 1582 fine for Arley and Sloley alias Slowley, and a 1404 inquisition describing Slowley and Arley as manors held together as one fee. The associated Long Itchington reference reflects the earlier and later feudal connection between Long Itchington and Arley.
Representative point: 52.5127, -1.5893
Basis: documented_manor_house — Approximate position of the documented Arley Hall, the historic moated manor house situated about 350 metres west of St Wilfrid's Church in Old Arley. The hall has been demolished, but its site is identified in the Warwickshire Historic Environment Record.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period:
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The evidence establishes the manor house and the historical association of Arley with Slowley/Sloley, but no reliable source located in this research supplies a surveyed or reconstructable perimeter for the manorial lands. The 1840 Arley tithe map documents parish parcels but does not, from the accessible evidence, identify a complete Arley Manor boundary. The modern civil-parish boundary has therefore not been substituted for the historical manor extent.
Sources:
- The National Archives: F242160, Arley Manor: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F242160 — Registry record for the exact manor, including the authority/reference and historical record identity.
- Mapping the Medieval Countryside: Inquisition Post Mortem, 1404, Long Itchington: https://inquisitionspostmortem.ac.uk/view/inquisition/18-897/902A.html — States that Slowley and Arley were manors held by Ralph Racheford as one fee, confirming the historical Arley–Slowley association and the manor's connection with Long Itchington.
- British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue, Add MS 37474: https://searcharchives.bl.uk/catalog/040-002053835 — Lists a 1582 fine for Arley, Warwickshire, and Sloley alias Slowley, Arley, Warwickshire, supporting the saved alternative names.
- Warwickshire Historic Environment Record: Arley Hall, MWA187: https://timetrail.warwickshire.gov.uk/detail.aspx?monuid=WA187 — Identifies Arley Hall as a post-medieval house in Arley, situated 350 metres west of St Wilfred's Church; records that it was moated, depicted on Beighton's 1725 map, and later demolished.
- Historic England: Church of St Wilfred, Arley: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1034773 — Provides the reliable reference point for St Wilfrid's Church at SP 28321 90618, used to place the documented Arley Hall site approximately 350 metres to the west.
- Warwickshire County Council: Arley tithe apportionment, 1840: https://apps.warwickshire.gov.uk/TitheApp/tithes/3385 — Confirms the existence of the 1840 Arley tithe material under record reference CR0569/8, but the accessible entry does not establish a complete manor boundary.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative coordinates are an approximate historical manor-house-site position derived from the Warwickshire Historic Environment Record's stated 350-metre westward relationship to St Wilfrid's Church.
- No historically defensible polygon for the manorial land extent was established; the modern parish boundary and accessible tithe-map coverage were not treated as substitutes.
- The 1001 Long Itchington-and-Arley estate evidence concerns an earlier combined landholding and does not by itself define the later territorial boundary of Arley Manor.