BALTONSBOROUGH MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The registry record is securely identified with the Glastonbury Abbey manor of Baltonsborough in Somerset. The British Library catalogue explicitly records extents and rentals for the Baltonsborough manor in 1308-1309 and 1313-1314, while the National Archives research leads include its medieval and early-modern account rolls, court rolls, extents, terrier and ministers' accounts. Historical forms including Baltenesbergh and Balsborowe refer to the same place.
Representative point: 51.1105, -2.6562
Basis: supported_manorial_centre — The point is at St Dunstan's Church and the historic core of Baltonsborough. No surviving manor house or securely identified manor-house site was found, but the church lies in the medieval village centre associated with the Glastonbury Abbey manor. Baltonsborough is documented as a Glastonbury Abbey holding from 744, and the village's central church area is the most defensible surviving manorial-centre proxy.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval and early modern manor, documented particularly by the 1308-1314 extents, the 1516 terrier and sixteenth-century legal records
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The sources establish the manor's historical identity and indicate substantial associated lands, including the village, open-field land and woodland. Baltonsborough is recorded as a ten-hide Glastonbury Abbey holding in 744, Domesday evidence refers to approximately 800 acres of woodland represented by Northwood and Southwood, and sixteenth-century evidence identifies Northwood as parcel of the manor and records its meets, bounds and common-pasture disputes. However, no accessible source supplies a complete, reliable perimeter for the manorial land. The civil-parish boundary must not be substituted for the manor boundary.
Sources:
- The National Archives Discovery: Baltonsborough Manor, F253542: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F253542 — Registry record for the exact manor, located at Baltonsborough, Somerset, with authority/reference GB/NNAF/M271579.
- British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue: Egerton MS 3321: https://searcharchives.bl.uk/catalog/032-001985523 — Describes the Glastonbury Abbey register of extents and rentals and specifically lists Baltonsborough surveys dated 1308-1309 and 1313-1314.
- Baltonsborough Parish Council: History: https://baltonsboroughparish.gov.uk/history/ — Records the 744 grant of ten hides at Baltonsborough to the Abbot of Glastonbury, historical name forms, the medieval village core around St Dunstan's Church, and Northwood and Southwood as survivals of the woodland recorded in Domesday.
- Somersetshire Parishes: A Handbook of Historical Reference to All Places in the County, Baltonsborough entry: https://device.report/m/8c83ff864a59f8bed0f9f421aaa908c44b1805fce2cce621aba578fde342697a — Summarizes medieval and early-modern records and identifies Northwood as parcel of the manor of Baltonsborough, with references to meets, bounds and common-pasture litigation.
- St Dunstan's Church, Baltonsborough: location and coordinates: https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101345010-church-of-st-dunstan-baltonsborough/maps — Provides the representative historic-core coordinate 51.1105, -2.6562 for the Grade I listed fifteenth-century parish church.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- No defensible complete polygon of the historical manorial land was located in the accessible evidence.
- The representative point is a supported manorial-centre proxy, not a documented manor-house location.
- The manor's historical extent may have included woodland, open fields, commons and detached or associated parcels; it should not be treated as identical to the modern civil parish.