ASHTON MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The registry location Ashton by Roade, Northamptonshire, and the historical name Ashton Pury identify the Ashton manor associated with the Honour of Grafton. The surviving manor house, Ashton Manor at 7 Roade Hill, is documented in the same Ashton settlement and is supported by the listed-building record, Northamptonshire HER, archaeological research, and the cited 1727 and 1768 manor/estate maps.
Representative point: 52.1434, -0.8842
Basis: documented_manor_house — Ashton Manor, 7 Roade Hill, Ashton; Historic England NGR SP 76452 50041, approximately 52.1434,-0.8842.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period:
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The research leads demonstrate that detailed historical maps survive for the manor and associated Grafton estates, notably the 1727 Plan of the Duke of Grafton's Manors of Hartwell, Ashton and Roade and the 1768 map of the manor. However, the accessible evidence does not provide a sufficiently legible, source-verifiable perimeter for Ashton Manor's own manorial land. The parish, modern civil boundary, Honour of Grafton extent, and later estate ownership cannot safely be substituted for the manor boundary.
Sources:
- Ashton Manor, 7 Roade Hill, Historic England List Entry 1371634: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1371634 — Identifies the exact manor house as Ashton Manor, gives parish Ashton and NGR SP 76452 50041, and describes the building as a manor house with earlier origins.
- Northamptonshire Historic Environment Record: No. 7 Roade Hill (Ashton Manor), MNN105007: https://her.northamptonshire.gov.uk/Monument/MNN105007 — Records the manor house and partial moat, gives centred grid reference SP 76448 50039, and notes that Ashton Manor is shown on the 1768 map.
- Hilltop, Roade Hill, Ashton: Archaeological Evaluation: https://her.northamptonshire.gov.uk/api/LibraryLink5WebServiceProxy/FetchResourceFromStub/4-6-5-3_d2fc82e3712ca7f-4653_12105c3f30a50e0.pdf — Places the historic core and moated Ashton Manor in Ashton, traces the manor's history, and identifies the 1727 Duke of Grafton estate map of Hartwell, Ashton and Roade as a reliable chain-surveyed source for historical land boundaries.
- TNA/MDR record F278616: Ashton Manor: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F278616 — Registry record supplied for the exact manor, associated with Ashton by Roade, Northamptonshire and authority/reference GB/NNAF/M299841.
- Northamptonshire Archives map lead: 1727 Plan of Duke of Grafton Estate: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N16467855 — Catalogue description identifies a 1727 map of the manor with Hartwell and Roade, providing direct archival evidence that a detailed historical manor map exists.
- Northamptonshire Archives map lead: 1768 map of manor: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N16468741 — Catalogue description identifies a 1768 map of the manor with Roade and Hartwell.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative point is secure because the documented manor house survives at Ashton Manor, 7 Roade Hill.
- No polygon is returned: the accessible sources establish the manor's location and the existence of historical maps, but do not expose a sufficiently legible and verifiable perimeter of the Ashton Pury manorial lands.
- Do not substitute the modern Ashton parish boundary, the wider Honour of Grafton, or the later Grafton estate boundary for the historical manor boundary.