Ingleby Manor

Where	Ingleby Manor	Type of Event	Site Visit
When	Wednesday 24th June 2009	Tutor	Robin Daniels

Around 50 members attended and were met by Robin Daniels the senior officer of Tees Archaeology. He explained that the Manor should be seen in the context of the landscape, a late Medieval Courtyard Manor House with a village, church and deer park.  

The village has classical Norman features with a broad green with two rows of facing properties, and the Church of St Andrew. The Manor is likely to have been sited originally within the village, possibly on the high ground facing the church. Its present site may have arisen from a lodge within the deer park, the earthwork boundary of which is still evident. 

The Manor developed into the domestic residence of noble gentry, so it was not fortified. It is of high status rated just below the rank of castle. It was constructed by Sir William Eure c. 1525–35. He married in 1528 and the house is thought to have been built as their marital home. Members of the family are buried in St. Andrew’s Church.

The Manor and parks were sold in 1608 to Sir David Foulis, a lawyer and part of the court of James I & IV.  He was a noble courtier acting as an agent in discussions with Elizabeth I and is buried in St Andrews Church.  Sir David’s grandson also called Sir David Foulis held the Manor from 1642 until he died in 1694 and was succeeded by his son William who died in 1741.

The Manor is constructed in local stone.  Medieval stone had no evident tooling, unlike the later herringbone, horizontal and diagonal patterning.  Later stone became much more readily available as a by-product of the ironstone mining.  The west front at the end of a long drive has a large turning circle for carriages into an elegant gateway. This leads into the outer court where guests were welcomed. Seen from inside, this outer court is very impressive with colonnade and Tuscan style arches. The functionality of the medieval front has had many changes as can be seen in the Kip & Knyff engraving.  Oriel windows were replaced by late 17^th/18^th century windows and the dormer windows have a typical 17^th century figure on top. The 17^th century embellishments were designed to impress. The simple functional essence is of a Late Medieval building which has had many 17^th century changes and embellishments.

Visitors would have been given the Kip engraving to further emphasise the power and prestige of the family.  It is thought the engraving is likely to be faithful rendition; otherwise the curving path to the left of centre would have been omitted as it spoils the symmetry.