BARKFOLD MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The supplied TNA/MDR record F255196 is titled Barkfold Manor and is associated with Petworth, Sussex. Independent historical and heritage sources identify Barkfold Manor/Barkfold House as the manor and capital messuage at Barkfold in Kirdford, within the historic Petworth district of Sussex.
Representative point: 51.0284, -0.5353
Basis: documented_manor_house — Barkfold House, the surviving manor house/capital messuage associated with Barkfold Manor, is listed by Historic England at OS grid reference TQ0281126466. The point is given at appropriately rounded precision from that grid reference.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval to early modern manor; documented ownership evidence includes the 17th century
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The available evidence establishes the manor house and identifies associated lands, including Hairlands and Boxalls in Kirdford, but does not provide a sufficiently clear, source-backed perimeter for the historical manorial holding. Modern Barkfold Manor estate acreage and parish boundaries cannot safely be substituted for the medieval or early-modern manor extent.
Sources:
- The National Archives: Barkfold Manor, record F255196: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F255196 — Registry record supplied for the exact manor identity.
- Barkfold House, Kirdford - Historic England List Entry 1239593: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1239593 — Identifies Barkfold House in Kirdford, gives its historical description and OS grid reference TQ0281126466, supporting the representative point.
- Barkfold House, Kirdford - British Listed Buildings: https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101239593-barkfold-house-kirdford/maps — Provides mapped coordinates and confirms the location of Barkfold House in Kirdford.
- Lease and recovery records concerning the Manor and capital messuage of Barkfold: https://strudwicke.com/wordpress/gramps/ppl/6/1/e287ebc58a129cc6e3566f0a316.html — Transcribes 1631 records explicitly referring to the moiety of the Manor and capital messuage of Barkfold in Kirdford.
- Will evidence for Barkfold, Hairlands and Boxalls: https://strudwicke.com/wordpress/gramps/src/e/6/e287eba9d5e6e6779bbe824a16e.html — Records the Manor and capital messuage of Barkfold together with adjacent lands of Hairlands and Boxalls in Kirdford, demonstrating associated manorial land but not a complete perimeter.
- A History of the Castles, Mansions and Manors of Western Sussex (1876): https://www.searchengine.org.uk/dailyebook/A%20history%20of%20the%20castles%20mansions%20and%20manors%20of%20western%20Sussex%20%281876%29.pdf — Historical county history discusses Barkfold as a manor in Kirdford and notes that it extended into the neighbouring parish, confirming that the manor was not necessarily coterminous with a single modern parish.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- No authoritative historical manor map or complete boundary description was located in the available evidence.
- Do not use the modern Kirdford parish boundary, current Barkfold Manor estate boundary, or the 57.48-acre modern estate as the historical manorial extent.
- The representative point denotes the documented manor house, not the centre or full extent of the historical manor lands.