A deserted village and motte and bailey surviving as extensive and well preserved earthworks in which features such as house platforms and roads can be identified. North of the village is a Norman motte and bailey castle. (Pastscape)
There are no visible remains of this castle except an artificial mound near the parish church, supposed to be the site of the keep. The moat was entirely filled up at the time that the church was rebuilt. The subsequent mansion of the Longuevilles, which was re-erected in 1586, has also disappeared; it is said to have been a magnificent abode.
The Conqueror gave the manor to Manno, a Breton, who fixed here his baronial home. Manfelin, second baron, founded a Benedictine Priory near it. Seven barons of Wolverton of this family followed. In 1342, Sir John de Wolverton died, seised of this barony, and in 1351, at the death of Ralph, Baron Wolverton, the family became extinct, the lands going to his eldest sister Margery, whose daughter, Joan, married John de Longueville, in whose family Wolverton remained for 300 years. A Sir John Longueville, who was proprietor in Leland’s time, died there in 1537, aged 103. His descendant was created a baronet in 1638 by Charles I., and the third baronet sold the manor and Castle in 1712 to the celebrated physician, Dr. Ratcliffe, for about £40,000; he dying, bequeathed this with other property, under trust to the University of Oxford. (Castles Of England, Sir James D. Mackenzie, 1896)
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