Westcourt Manor (alternates: West Court Manor, or South Shorwell) is one of three

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

s, along with Woolverton and Northcourt, that is located in

Shorwell Shorwell (pronounced Shorrel by some locals and Islanders) is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. It is from Newport in the southwest of the island. Shorwell was one of Queen Victoria's favourite places to visit o ...

, on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

, England. According to the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

, it was part of the possessions of Gozehne Fitz Azor, and had been held in the time of the Edward the Confessor by Ulnod in abeyance. At the time of the countess Isabella's record, we find that Sir John Lisle had this manor, with many others, which he held of her in capite, or by knight's service. It was possessed by Colonel Hill. An Elizabethan manor, it is connected to a farm of 200 acres.

Early history

South Shorwell, or West Court, is thus described in Domesday Book:—"Isd. Goz. ten. Sorewelle. Uluod. tenuit in paragio: Tc. p. ii hid. et uno v. modo p. dim.hida. Tra. e. ii car. et. dim. In dno. e. una car. et ii vill. et vi bord. cu. una car. et dim. ibi iii servi et molin. de xl den. et xiiii ac. pti. T.RE. et post, valt c sol. modo iiii lib." (Gozelin, son of Azor, holds Shorwell. Ulnod holds it in abeyance. Then, it was assessed at two hides and one virgate; now only at half a hide. In the demesne there is one carucate, with two villeins, and 6 borderers, with two carucates aud a half. There are 3 slaves, and a mill at 40 denarii, and 14 acres of meadow land. King Edward held it, and afterwards it was valued at 100 shillings: now only at 4 pounds.) It remained in the De Insula or Lisle family, who once possessed such wide domains, for several centuries, and afterwards passed—like the parishes of Bonchurch and Shanklin —through the families of Dennis, Broad, and Alcorn, into that of Popham. The old manor-house is a very picturesque object from the road, being richly adorned with ivy up to its gabled roof.

References

* ''This article includes text incorporated from John Albin's "A new, correct, and much improved-history of the Isle of Wight: from the earliest times of authentic information to the present period: comprehending whatever is curious or worthy of attention in natural history, with its civil, ecclesiastical, and military state in the various ages, both ancient and modern (1795)", a publication now in the public domain.'' * ''This article includes text incorporated from William Henry Davenport Adams' "The history, topography, and antiquities of the isle of Wight (1856)", a publication now in the public domain.'' {{coord, 50.6427, N, 1.3625, W, source:wikidata, display=title Country houses on the Isle of Wight Manor houses in England Grade II* listed buildings on the Isle of Wight