Fardel

Fardel (or Fardle) was the family home of the Raleighs. The most famous family member was Sir Walter Raleigh who led the English fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588. Sir Walter was not born at Fardel but Burnard comments that the house was Sir Walter's 'property and occasional residence'. Fardel is a Tudor manor house of 15th to 16th century date and is architecturally the most interesting house in the parish of Fardel, which was a Saxon estate and a Domesday manor. The house has an adjacent chapel and solar. The chapel was licensed by Bishop Lacy in 1432 and this is probably the date of the existing building. Crossing, writing in 1912, stated that the chapel adjacent to the house was 'in a good state of preservation'. The Ordnance Survey now describe the chapel as 'remains of'.