Talk:Bury Manor

Query on sources...
I've some real concerns about this article. The key facts about the castle being presented here (excluding material about the surrounding villages etc.) are that:

"Bury Manor Castle is an English Heritage Site located in the village of Wick, South Gloucestershire, England. The castle was rebuilt approximately 500 years ago on the original foundations (which date to c. 1200) over the cellars which date back over 800 years. The cellars were used during Cromwell's time (17th century) as an ammunition store and local rumours are strong about tunnels connecting the castle with the village of Wick and Doynton church. 'The castle' as it is known, is said to have been built on bedrock... Although fairly secluded and easily unnoticed during the day, in the evening with the lights on to the facade, this property is quite spectacular and visible for miles. There is a moat and moat house around the property and Bury Manor Farm, which sits to the rear of the Castle. To the West side of the Castle, sits a yew tree which is acclaimed to be circa 550 years old. During the years 2002–2006 the castle was run as a luxury guest house. In August 2006, the castle was purchased by a local businessman"

I simply can't find any mention of this in the usual sources (Pastscape for the National Monuments Record, Gatehouse Gazette etc.) Even Google is only turning up a reference to its time as a guest house. I can't find any reference to it being an English Heritage Site either (not surprising, perhaps, as they don't normally rent them out as guest houses or sell them to local businessmen). The only reference in fact relates to a totally different pre-medieval camp.

Looking at the history of the article changes, the heart of the article - the age of the castle, the "English heritage" status (originally "National Heritage"), the cellars, the secret passageway, the link to Cromwell all come from the first draft of the article, created by a user in 2006 who only made a couple edits - creating this and adding it to the list of English castles. The ammunition store came from an IP address user shortly afterwards; he also added the details about the builders, which again I can't seem to replicate on-line. There is (or was) a B&B on the site with a photograph, but nothing about the picture backs up the claims above.

Does anyone have any ideas? My gut feeling at this stage is that this article is fundamentally flawed. Hchc2009 (talk) 09:45, 22 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Cathcart King's Castelarium Anglicanum doesn't record a "Bury Manor Castle" in Gloucestershire or anything similar. As neither Cathcart King's well-respected work nor the gatehouse website (which has even more sites) mentions Bury Manor Castle I am sceptical. The genuki source added last year bizarrely doesn't mention Bury at all. Despite all this, if you look at the coordinates mentioned in the article there is a "Bury Manor" marked on the OS map, although no Bury Manor Castle. I don't think this is a hoax, just a misnomer and a mishmash of information, most of which doesn't seem to belong here. The closest I can get is this and this which matches with the image in the article. As such I'll strip the article back to what is verifiable. Good catch. Nev1 (talk) 14:09, 22 December 2010 (UTC)