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Moated site at Manor Farm, Grantchester

History of Moated site at Manor Farm

Scheduled Monument:

The moated site is associated with the manor of Jaks, which in about 1400 included several estates assembled by the family of Grantchester. At the time of the Domesday Survey, two knights of Count Eustace held of him two and a half hides, which were subsequently divided into two manors based in Grantchester and Coton. By the 12th century the land in Grantchester was owned by the Fercles family, and by 1257 it had passed through marriage into the ownership of John le Moyne and William Appleford, who divided it equally between them. John le Moyne transferred his half to Hugh de Sengham in 1259 and by 1352 it was bought by John Grantchester, whose family already owned substantial lands in the parish. John died in 1362 and the manor then became known by the name of `Jaks’ after John’s son Jake, who inherited it in about 1371, when he came of age. In 1427 Henry Somer acquired the manor of Jaks together with the manor of Burwash, selling them in 1452 to King’s College. The present 15th century house, approximately 30m to the north of the scheduled site and not included in the scheduling, is recorded as having been owned by Henry Somer and is thought to represent a successor to an earlier house, which was situated on the moated site.

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