ASTLEY MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The registry record is for Astley, Warwickshire, and its associated medieval and later manorial records are held in the Newdigate estate collection (CR 136). Historic England identifies Astley Castle as the fortified manor house whose origins are in the 13th and 14th centuries, and explicitly discusses the manor of Astley and a 1664 Newdigate estate map titled Plan of the Manor of Astley. This distinguishes it from other English manors named Astley.
Representative point: 52.50225, -1.54239
Basis: documented_manor_house — Astley Castle, the documented fortified manor house and historic seat of the manor of Astley. Historic England gives National Grid Reference SP 31162 89485; the coordinates are a decimal WGS84 conversion of the castle site.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period:
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The existence of historically specific boundary evidence is confirmed by the 1682 jury presentment of the limits and bounds, the 1733 and 1823 perambulations, and the 1664, 1696, 1700 and 1709 manor or estate maps. However, the accessible online material does not provide the mapped perimeter or sufficient textual boundary descriptions to reconstruct the historical manorial territory reliably. The modern parish boundary and the scheduled-monument boundary have therefore not been substituted for the manor boundary.
Sources:
- Astley Castle, Astley - Historic England List Entry 1365144: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1365144 — Identifies Astley Castle in Astley, Warwickshire, at SP 31162 89485, and describes it as a country house originally a fortified house with 13th- and 14th-century origins. It records the 1266 licence to crenellate at Astley and cites the Victoria County History.
- Astley Castle moated site, fishponds, garden remains and Astley College - Historic England Scheduled Monument 1011194: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1011194 — States that the manor of Astley existed by the 12th century, describes the fortified manor-house site, and cites the 1664 Newdigate Estate Map. It provides the strongest authoritative link between the manor and Astley Castle but does not publish the full manor boundary.
- Plan of the Manor of Astley, 1664 - Historic England reference to CR136/M97a and b: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1001185?section=comments-and-photos — Historic England's references identify T. Ellis's Plan of the Manor of Astley, 1664, held by Warwickshire County Record Office under CR136/M97a and b, confirming that a manor-specific historical map exists.
- TNA/MDR record F241627: Astley Manor: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F241627 — Registry record supplied for the exact manor, located at Astley, Warwickshire, under authority/reference GB/NNAF/M229078.
- Warwickshire Manorial Documents Database: https://heritage.warwickshire.gov.uk/catalogues-databases/manorial-documents-database/1 — Explains that Warwickshire manorial records include maps and documents relating to manor boundaries, and confirms the relevance of the Warwickshire County Record Office holdings.
- Astley Castle, Warwickshire Museum TimeTrail: https://timetrail.warwickshire.gov.uk/detail.aspx?monuid=WA357 — Describes Astley Castle as a moated semi-fortified house belonging to the Astley family, who held the manor from the Earls of Warwick.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative point is the historic manor-house site at Astley Castle, not the centre of the modern parish or village.
- No historical manor polygon has been returned because the online evidence identifies archival maps and perambulations but does not expose their complete perimeter.
- The Historic England scheduled-monument boundary covers the castle complex and archaeological remains only; it is not the territorial boundary of Astley Manor.