Remains of the Manor
It had been known that the school and its grounds stood on the site of the buried remains of a great manor house of the late medieval period. In 1522 the manor was owned by Cardinal Wolsey and in 1527, the French ambassador, Jean du Bellay thought the house “more splendid than Hampton Court”.
Today the only visible sign of the Manor of the More is the existence of four large and beautifully carved pieces of stone. Having been discovered by grounds-men, two of the pieces were recognised by Professor Martin Biddle of Oxford University to be of Tudor origin. These two pieces were sections of columns, featuring finely carved bands of floral decoration. There were very tiny but clearly visible shapes amongst the swirls of carved stems and leaves, banded scrolls that looked a little like coronets. Professor Biddle, who had carried out a great deal of work excavating and investigating the site, attributed this carving to stonemasons working in the Italianate Classical style around 1530.