At Crowhurst are the remains of a once defensible manor house, dating from 1251, which is believed to have been built, or at least owned, by the same Walter de Scotney who was executed in 1259 for his complicity in the attempt to poison Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and others at a banquet. (See SCOTNEY.) He was lord of Crowhurst and had rights of free warren there for his subsistence and sport. Originally there was placed here a Norman castellum, or entrenched post, for the settlement of the country round.
The remains are small, consisting of a building 40 feet by 23, of two storeys, with a porch on the S.E. angle that is groined and has a finely moulded door ; over the passage is a small room, possibly a chapel. The upper room has the eastern gable remaining with a large window of two lights, the mouldings being particularly rich. The lower storey is vaulted. It cannot be determined whether a hall or any other portion existed ; but the room remaining appears to have formed the chamber or solar. (Castles Of England, Sir James D. Mackenzie, 1896)
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