ATWORTH COTTLES MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The registry name ATWORTH COTTLES MANOR corresponds to the Cottles manor at Atworth. Wiltshire local-history sources identify Cottles as one of Atworth's three medieval manors, historically associated with Robert Cotel from about 1102, and distinguish it from Atworth Magna and the other Atworth manor. The surviving manor-house site is Cottles House, now Stonar School.
Representative point: 51.3888, -2.2179
Basis: documented_manor_house — Cottles House, now Stonar School, is the surviving manor-house site of Cottles Manor. Historic England records its National Grid Reference as ST8493665550, corresponding approximately to 51.3888, -2.2179.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period:
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The sources establish that Cottles or Atworth Parva was a distinct, historically extra-parochial area and describe it as a rectangular area centred on Cottles House. However, no authoritative source located in this research supplies a georeferenced manor boundary, mapped estate perimeter, or sufficient documented boundary landmarks to reconstruct the historical manorial extent safely. The modern Atworth civil-parish boundary must not be substituted for the manor boundary.
Sources:
- The National Archives Discovery: F272892: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F272892 — Registry/TNA record for the exact manor entry identified as Atworth Cottles Manor.
- Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, Community History: Atworth: https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Community/Index/10 — Identifies Cottles as Atworth's third manor, traces it to Robert Cotel around 1102, describes Cottles House as the surviving manor-house building, and states that the Cottles Estate lies about half a mile west of Atworth village.
- Historic England: Stonar School, formerly Cottles House, listing 1263046: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1263046 — Identifies Stonar School as formerly Cottles House, states that it was rebuilt on the site of an earlier Cottles house, and provides the documented National Grid Reference ST8493665550.
- Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre: History on the ground in Atworth: https://wshc.org.uk/history-on-the-ground-in-atworth/ — States that Cottles was one of the three manor sites, that the former settlement of Little Atworth was associated with it, and that the Cottles drive and manor-house setting were identified through documentary and map research.
- Bradford on Avon Museum: Atworth: https://www.bradfordonavonmuseum.co.uk/archives/658 — Distinguishes Atworth Parva, Little Atworth or Cottles from Atworth Magna, describes Cottles as a rectangular area, and identifies Cottles House as its principal surviving feature.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative coordinate is for the documented surviving manor-house site, not a claim that the modern Stonar School grounds equal the historical manor.
- No defensible historical manorial polygon was found; the rectangular description of Cottles/Atworth Parva is insufficient to determine exact perimeter coordinates.
- The modern civil parish of Atworth includes Cottles, Great Chalfield and Little Chalfield and is not the historical boundary of Cottles Manor.