ABBEY DORE

Claim

Historical names: Dore (Manor) | Dour (Manor)

Location: Abbey Dore, Herefordshire

Places / associated places: Abbey Dore, Herefordshire

Location & Extent

GPS Location & Recorded Land Areas

Representative GPS point: 51.968598, -2.893203

Location / boundary notes:

Identity: confirmed — The registry name, historical forms Dore and Dour, location in Abbey Dore, and authority/reference GB/NNAF/M303196 correspond to the former Cistercian manor and principal estate of Dore Abbey in Abbey Dore, Herefordshire. The documented descent from Dore Abbey to the Crown, John Scudamore, the Scudamore heirs, John Higford and Thomas Freke Lewis is consistent with this exact record and not merely with a same-named manor elsewhere.
Representative point: 51.968598, -2.893203
Basis: documented_manor_site — The point represents Dore Abbey, the documented medieval monastic centre and site of the manor and principal estate. It is identified by National Grid Reference SO 3873 3039 and is situated in the parish of Abbey Dore.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval monastic manor and pre-Dissolution estate, with later post-Dissolution estate evidence through 1821
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: No reliable, complete historical perimeter for the manorial land has been located. The evidence establishes a dispersed estate centred on Dore Abbey, with holdings and granges in Abbey Dore and surrounding areas. Medieval descriptions refer to land between the River Dore and Trivel Brook and to other named lands, while later accounts identify granges including Hollin Grange, Morehampton, Newborough, Newbrook, Chapel Grange, Kingston and New Grange. However, the original endowment is expressly not fully identifiable, the granges were dispersed, and the 1,434 acres assigned in the 1821 partition describe a later Scudamore estate division rather than a securely mapped legal boundary of the manor. The modern civil-parish boundary has therefore not been substituted.
Sources:
- The National Archives: Abbey Dore manor record F279988: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F279988 — Registry authority and identity record for Abbey Dore, historically Dore or Dour, in Abbey Dore, Herefordshire.
- Dore Abbey, Herefordshire, 1536-1912, Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club Transactions, volume XLI, 1975: https://www.woolhopeclub.org.uk/system/files/documents/transaction/woolhope-club-transactions-volume-xli-1975-part-iii.pdf — States that Dore Abbey was dissolved in September 1536; its site and demesne lands were granted to John Scudamore on 30 March 1540; and the estate later descended through the Scudamore family.
- The Mansions and Manors of Herefordshire: Abbey Dore: https://parishmouse.co.uk/england/herefordshire/abbey-dore-herefordshire-family-history-guide/ — Describes the Manor of Dore, the uncertain identification of its original endowment, the grant of land between the River Dore and Trivel Brook, named Abbey granges, and the 1,434-acre 1821 partition assigned to John Parsons/Higford.
- Herefordshire Through Time: The Grange: https://htt.herefordshire.gov.uk/herefordshires-past/the-medieval-period/monasteries/the-grange/ — Confirms that several recorded Herefordshire granges belonged to Dore Abbey and that these were agricultural components of the monastery's wider landholding system.
- Church of St Mary, Abbey Dore, Historic England listing 1099794: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1099794 — Identifies the surviving Church of St Mary as the remains of Dore Abbey and gives National Grid Reference SO 38717 30401, supporting the abbey site as the historical manorial centre.
- Dore Abbey, Herefordshire, Gazetteer of British Place Names: https://gazetteer.org.uk/place/Dore_Abbey,_Herefordshire_320111 — Identifies Dore Abbey as the former Cistercian abbey and present-day parish church, gives Grid Reference SO 3873 3039, and supplies the representative coordinates used here.
- The National Archives: Abbey Dore court rolls, C 115/95/6900-6911: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N16647768 — Catalogues surviving Abbey Dore manorial court rolls for 1539-1677, corroborating the existence of the post-Dissolution manor record, but the catalogue entry does not provide a mappable boundary.
- The National Archives: Abbey Dore perambulation, R70/1: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N16651575 — Catalogues an 1824 perambulation involving Abbey Dore and other manors. The available catalogue information does not expose sufficient boundary detail to reconstruct a defensible polygon.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative point is for the historic Dore Abbey/manorial centre, not the later Abbey Dore Court country-house estate.
- The historical estate was dispersed and included granges and lands beyond the immediate abbey site; these should not be interpreted as a single contiguous polygon without consulting the underlying medieval charters, surveys, rentals, maps or the 1824 perambulation.
- The modern Abbey Dore civil-parish boundary has deliberately not been used as a proxy for the manor boundary.
- The 1,434 acres assigned in 1821 describe a partitioned Scudamore estate and are not sufficient by themselves to define the legal extent of the manor.

About the Manor

Abbey Dore, also historically called Dore or Dour, was the manor and principal estate associated with Dore Abbey, a Cistercian monastery founded at Abbey Dore in 1147 by Robert de Ewyas. The abbey accumulated lands in the parish and surrounding area, including an important royal grant of land between the River Dore and Trivel Brook, confirmed by Henry III in 1233. The monastic manor and estate remained in the possession of the Cistercian community until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. After the abbey's suppression in September 1536, the estate was temporarily held by the Crown and the site and demesne lands were granted on 30 March 1540 to John Scudamore of Holme Lacy. The estate subsequently descended through the Scudamore family and its co-heirs. In 1821, following a partition of the Scudamore estates, 1,434 acres in Abbey Dore were assigned to John Parsons, who took the name Higford. The property was later bequeathed to his kinsman Thomas Freke Lewis, who was explicitly described as lord of the manor and chief landowner in nineteenth-century directories. The surviving evidence establishes the descent to Thomas Freke Lewis, but does not securely establish a later legal holder of the manor itself. Later owners of Abbey Dore Court should not automatically be treated as holders of the manor, because the available sources describe the country-house estate and its sales rather than the legal title to the manor.

Ownership / Holder Account

Dore Abbey and its manor were held by the Cistercian Abbey of Dore from its foundation in 1147 until the abbey was dissolved in September 1536. The estate then came into Crown hands until the grant of the site and demesne lands to John Scudamore of Holme Lacy on 30 March 1540. By the early seventeenth century the estate had passed to John Scudamore's grandson, later 1st Viscount Scudamore. The estate remained with the Viscount's descendants until a partition of the Scudamore estates in 1821, when 1,434 acres in Abbey Dore were assigned to John Parsons, who assumed the surname Higford. John Higford's property was bequeathed to his kinsman and godson Thomas Freke Lewis. Thomas Freke Lewis was recorded as lord of the manor and chief landowner in 1876 and again in a directory relating to the 1891 parish statistics. The evidence after Lewis's death in 1908 concerns sales and succession of the Abbey Dore Court estate, not necessarily the manor title, so no later manor conveyance is entered.

Records & References

Sources and references mentioning this manor/title which are not necessarily conveyances or transfers.

8 records found.

1824-1824: perambulation, with other manors

Date / period: 1824-1824 Type: Archive Record Reference: R70/1

Held by: Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre
Further information: NRA 14843 Hereford misc

External source