BAGILLT MANOR

Identity: likely — The registry name and Flintshire location identify the historical manor associated with Bagillt. The strongest surviving candidate for its medieval manorial centre is Hen Blas, also known as Coleshill Castle, within the historical Bagillt area. Archaeological investigation identifies Hen Blas as a fortified manorhouse occupied from the early thirteenth century until the late fourteenth century. The identification remains likely rather than confirmed because the TNA record provides no descriptive history or boundary information and the surviving sources do not explicitly equate the F-record title with Hen Blas.
Representative point: 53.25228, -3.16880
Basis: documented_manor_house — Hen Blas/Coleshill Castle, Bagillt: archaeological evidence identifies the site as a fortified manorhouse and former manorial centre. Coordinates correspond to OS grid reference SJ22167345 / CPAT grid reference SJ221734.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval, principally 13th–14th century
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: No reliable source located that supplies or reconstructs the historical manorial perimeter. The 1824 plan of Bagillt Fawr documents a township map, but a township or parish boundary cannot safely be substituted for the manor's territorial extent.
Sources:
- The National Archives, Bagillt Manor, TNA/MDR record F237290: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F237290 — Registry record for the exact supplied manor name; the public entry provides no usable descriptive or boundary detail.
- Coflein, Hen Blas / fortified manorhouse site, Bagillt: https://coflein.gov.uk/en/sites/307131 — Reports that excavation demonstrated an earthwork castle was replaced by a fortified manorhouse in the early thirteenth century and abandoned in the late fourteenth century.
- Hen Blâs, Flint: Archaeological Assessment, Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/issue.xhtml?recordId=1229212 — Provides the site identification, Bagillt parish context, OS grid reference SJ22167345, and archaeological interpretation of the fortified manorial centre.
- The Gatehouse Gazetteer, Hen Blas: https://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/Welshsites/323.html — Identifies Hen Blas in the community of Bagillt as a probable fortified manor house and gives latitude 53.25228, longitude -3.16880.
- Catalogue of British Town Maps, Plan of the township of Bagillt Fawr, 1824: https://townmaps.history.ac.uk/townmap/flintshire-bagillt-1824/ — Documents a surviving 1824 plan of Bagillt Fawr township held at Flint Record Office; useful as a research lead but not evidence that the township equals the manor.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The manor identification is probable, not confirmed by an explicit surviving statement linking F237290 to Hen Blas.
- Bagillt Hall is not used as the representative point because an eighteenth-century account specifically states that it possessed no manorial rights and did not stand in the township of Bagillt.
- No historical manor boundary polygon is returned. The Bagillt Fawr township, parish, or modern community boundary must not be treated as the manorial extent without further documentary evidence.