Details

The monument includes a fishpond and additional buried remains representing part of a monastic grange associated with Quarr Abbey and situated in the grounds of a later manor house on the lower south facing slope of the Yar valley on the Isle of Wight.Part of the fabric of the grange is incorporated into the present manor house.The grange is known from documentary sources to have developed on the site of a Saxon manor.This passed into Norman hands after the Conquest.The present manor house lies in its own grounds,with the manor farm to its north east.Earlier medieval features representing parts of the grange,including the wool room can still be seen in the house,though this was largely remodelled in the 16th and 18th centuries.The house is Listed Grade II* and excluded from the scheduling,although the ground beneath it is included.To the south west of the house is the pond,which was once one of a flight of medieval fishponds.The surviving pond has dimensions of C.30m north-south and C.20m east-west.Before the Conquest Earl Harold held Haseley,but it passed via William the Conqueror to his son William Rufus who in turn granted it to the Norman Baron Engelger de Bohun.A deed of 1136,held in the British Museum,records the sale of Haseley by de Bohun to Quarr Abbey.The abbey used the manor as a bercarie or sheep farm,mainly for the wool trade,and enlarged the Saxon manor by adding on the great wool room some time after 1139.At this time it was recorded that a fulling mill was built on the stream next to the house.This mill,working on the undershot principle,was reputedly the first such mill on the Isle of Wight.The stream has now dried up,but its course can still be seen in pasture land to the south of the manor house.The great wool room comprised what is now the south wing of the house and some of the original medieval timbers can still be seen in the roof.The farm buildings to the north east of the manor house include a great barn dating to the 17th century and Listed Grade II.The long lane which runs north from the manor to the foot of the downs was once a mile long,and represents a droveway between the manor and downland grazing.At the Reformation Haseley passed into private hands.The manor house,the chestnut paling fence and metal bridge to the south of the manor house,the post and wire fence and the telegraph pole and supports west of the manor house,the caravans and buildings,all to the west of the manor house,are excluded from the scheduling,although the ground beneath all of these features is included.MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

A monastic grange was a farm owned and run by a monastic community and independent of the secular manorial system of communal agriculture and servile labour.The function of granges was to provide food and raw materials for consumption within the parent monastic house itself,and also to provide surpluses for sale for profit.The first monastic granges appeared in the 12th century but they continued to be constructed and used until the Dissolution.This system of agriculture was pioneered by the Cistercian order but was soon imitated by other orders.Some granges were worked by resident lay-brothers(secular workers)of the order but others were staffed by non-resident labourers.The majority of granges practised a mixed economy but some were specialist in their function.Five types of grange are known:agrarian farms,bercaries(sheep farms),vaccaries (cattle ranches),horse studs and industrial complexes.A monastery might have more than one grange and the wealthiest houses had many.Frequently a grange was established on lands immediately adjacent to the monastery,this being known as the home grange.Other granges,however,could be found wherever the monastic site held lands.On occasion these could be located at some considerable distance from the parent monastery.Granges are broadly comparable with contemporary secular farms although the wealth of the parent house was frequently reflected in the size of the grange and the layout and architectural embellishment of the buildings.Additionally,because of their monastic connection,granges tend to be much better documented than their secular counterparts.No region was without monastic granges.The exact number of sites which originally existed is not precisely known but can be estimated,on the basis of numbers of monastic sites,at several thousand.Of these,however,only a small percentage can be accurately located on the ground today.Of this group of identifiable sites,continued intensive use of many has destroyed much of the evidence of archaeological remains.In view of the importance of granges to medieval rural and monastic life,all sites exhibiting good archaeological survival are identified as nationally important.The site of the monastic grange at Haseley Manor is one of only very few known to survive on the Isle of Wight,and is central to a variety of contemporary features,including a droveway,fishpond and additional settlement remains associated with the wool industry.The site has a documentary history dating back to the time of the Domesday Survey.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Hockey, S F, Quarr Abbey and its Lands 1132-1631, (1970), 50-52
Young, R, Haseley Manor Isle of Wight, (1988), 6
Young, R, Haseley Manor Isle of Wight, (1988), 3-5
Other
Young, R., (1993)

Source: Historic England