AVENING MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The supplied TNA/MDR record identifies Avening Manor in Avening, Gloucestershire, with the historical form Asonig. Independent historical evidence places the manor's medieval and later manorial centre at Avening Court, formerly the Caen nunnery/manor house. The associated TNA court rolls and accounts specifically record Avening Manor, including records held jointly with Minchinhampton and references to Aston and Lowesmore.
Representative point: 51.679649, -2.158853
Basis: documented_manor_house — Avening Court, formerly Avening House, is identified by Historic England as a manor house. Its listing gives NGR ST 89113 97888; the corresponding WGS84 point is approximately 51.679649, -2.158853.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval manor, with extent evidenced especially by Domesday and later manorial references
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The surviving evidence establishes the location and some territorial components of the manor but does not provide a sufficiently clear, source-backed perimeter. A nineteenth-century history reports a Domesday extent of approximately 4,320 acres and states that the manor included Aston and Lowesmore; related medieval evidence also associates Pinbury with Avening. However, these textual references do not define a reliable polygon, and the modern parish boundary or parish acreage cannot safely be substituted for the historical manorial boundary.
Sources:
- The National Archives, Manorial Documents Register: Avening Manor, F241029: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F241029 — Primary registry record for Avening Manor in Avening, Gloucestershire.
- Historic England, Avening Court, List Entry 1088856: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1088856 — Identifies Avening Court as a manor house, states that it originated as the Caen nunnery in the late eleventh century, and supplies NGR ST8911397888.
- Planning Data, Avening Court geographic record: https://www.planning.data.gov.uk/entity/31546272 — Provides the mapped point POINT (-2.158853 51.679649) for the listed Avening Court building.
- A History of the Parishes of Minchinhampton and Avening: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/A_history_of_the_parishes_of_Minchinhampton_and_Avening_%28IA_historyofparishe00playrich%29.pdf — Reports that Domesday Avening Manor contained about 4,320 acres and states that Aston and Lowesmoor remained included in the Manor of Avening; it also discusses the medieval association of Avening, Aston, Lowesmore and Pinbury.
- Landmark Trust, Field House history album: https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/globalassets/3.-images-and-documents-to-keep/history-albums/field-house-history-album.pdf — Confirms that Aston Farm, comprising land in Avening and Minchinhampton, had formerly been part of the Manor of Avening, and discusses the related Aston and Lowesmore estate.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative point is the documented historic manor-house site at Avening Court, not the modern centre of Avening.
- No defensible historical manor boundary polygon was found in the accessible evidence.
- The reported 4,320-acre Domesday extent and the inclusion of Aston and Lowesmore are territorial evidence but do not establish an exact perimeter.
- The modern Avening parish boundary must not be treated as the boundary of Avening Manor.