BARFORD MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The record's Downton, Wiltshire location matches the historical Barford manor in Downton parish, distinct from Barford St Martin. Local historical sources place Barford Manor's associated residence and estate at Barford Park, north of Downton, and identify the surviving Barford Park Farmhouse as the historic Barford Park site.
Representative point: 51.00244, -1.74083
Basis: documented_estate_centre — Barford Park Farmhouse, Barford Lane, Downton, at OS National Grid Reference SU 18210 22604. The earlier Barford Park house, associated with the manor estate, was destroyed by fire in 1815; the surviving farmhouse and historic park provide the best documented location for the manorial centre.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period:
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The available evidence establishes the location of Barford Manor and its associated Barford Park estate, including a stated park extent of approximately 300 acres, but does not provide a defensible historical boundary for the manor's complete territorial extent. The modern civil-parish boundary and the Barford Park boundary have therefore not been substituted for a manorial boundary.
Sources:
- The National Archives: Barford Manor, record F273124: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F273124 — Registry record supplied for Barford Manor; used as the primary identity reference.
- Historic England: Barford Park Farmhouse, list entry 1023858: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1023858 — Identifies Barford Park Farmhouse, Barford Lane, Downton, with National Grid Reference SU 18210 22604.
- Wiltshire Council Community History: Downton: https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Community/Index/82 — States that Barford is an historic settlement in the Downton area, identifies Barford Park within the modern parish, and records the historical Downton manorial context.
- Downton Village: Beyond the Trail — Barford Park: https://downtonvillage.co.uk/beyond.php — Places the Barford Park estate in Downton, records the country house built there in about 1695, and states that it was destroyed by fire in 1815, leaving the surviving avenue and farm site.
- A Vision of Britain through Time: History of Downton in Wiltshire: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/11723 — Describes Barford in Downton parish, identifies Barford as a former residence of the Lords Feversham and later associated with the Nelson family, and gives the historical local setting.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- No reliable source located that maps or enumerates the complete historical manorial boundary of Barford Manor.
- The representative coordinate identifies the documented Barford Park/Farmhouse estate centre, not necessarily the precise footprint of the demolished historic manor house.
- Do not use the modern Downton civil-parish boundary or the approximately 300-acre Barford Park area as a substitute for the manor boundary.