Garsington Manor 'Brewhouse', Garsington, Oxfordshire

Odord Archaeological Unit (OAU) was asked by Nichols, Brown, Webber to carry out a
programme of archaeological recording at the above premises which lies immediately to the
north-west of the Jacobean manor house (at SP 5819 0197). As part of the facilities for the
open-aír opera season held at Garsington Manor each summer, dressing rooms were to be
inserted into the earlier north-south wing of this L-shaped Grade II Listed building. The two
wings together are listed as 'Former bakehouse and attached outbuilding' although locally
the building was sometimes known as 'the monk's brewhouse'. Whilst the exact function of
the earlier wing was unclear, the later east-west wing still clearly showed evidence of latterly
having been used as a bakehouse and evidence was noted suggesting possible earlier use as ct
brewhouse also. The present building is not shown on two survivíng l7th-century maps but
archaeological evidence suggests that it must have been constructed soon after and it
therefore appears likely that the north-south range was buílt in the late 17th or early 18th
century and the east-west range added in the 18th-century date. Although both wings show
much evidence of later work, the earlier of the two wings, which was to be affected by the
proposed development, was notable on account of some well-preserved roof and window
carpentry of the 16th and early 17th centuries and some potentially 11th-century long and
short work although it is more likely that this is an anachronistic post-medieval feature. The
early carpentry suggests that the building may have been constructed with a significant
quantity of reused materialfrom a previous structure. No evidence was found to suggest that
any part of the standing structure was medieval. The building was also of interest as it was
thought to contain evidence of later use for domestic electricity and gas production. The
proposed conversion work involved the lowering of the internal floor level by up to 1 metre
and observations revealed a successíon ofpost-medievalfloor layers above natural deposits
as well as some þundations of an earlier building on the site. Detailed study of the building
itself and its foundations revealed that it had originally been only five bays in length, with
timber-framed gables. It was probably partially open-fronted to the east and it seèms to have
originally abutted an earlier east-west range at its northern end. This earlier building is
shown on the two l7th-century map* Despite there being no evidence of early upstanding
fabric, clear evidence was found to indicate that the 'Brewhouse' overlies the foundations of
one, if not two earlier buildings, both of which were of probable medieval origin.