civil war fieldworks" still survive. The manor was described as "a fortified house surrounded by a very strong 'bulwark' and a great ditch on the outside of it partly filled with water", with mentions of a drawbridge and defensive "'half moons' within the bulwark". The house was surrounded on 1 November 1645 by forces led by Colonel John Hutchinson and Colonel-General Sydnam Poyntz. The summons to surrender was rejected by Philip Stanhope. Lucy Hutchinson, the wife of Colonel Hutchinson, described some of the tactics of the defenders: The house was stormed on 3 November. The attack started at 4 o'clock and lasted just half an hour. Stanhope was killed and many defenders (160 Royalists) were massacred, and 140 were taken prisoner. Shelford House was plundered for valuables and burnt to the ground. On the following day, Colonel-General Poyntz moved to Wiverton Hall in Nottinghamshire which suffered the same fate. Historian David Appleby has said that a "frenzied massacre", which may have included women and children, followed the battle, and the whole encounter was later covered up, not mentioned by either side. Appleby suggests that the Parliamentarians wanted to forget the savagery, and the defending Royalists to hide the presence of "European Catholics" of the Queen's Regiment, who had a very bad reputation. Reconstruction The house was rebuilt after the civil war (c.1678) by another son of Philip Stanhope, 1st Earl of Chesterfield, Arthur Stanhope (1627–1677). This building still exists, although it has now been vacated by the Stanhopes. A 2019 aerial study by the University of Nottingham shows the layout of the original Priory and mentions that the current farmhouse was almost certainly the monastic ‘prior’s lodgings’ and retains a considerable amount of the original medieval building. The site is now a private residence. Notes References Monasteries in Nottinghamshire Augustinian monasteries in England 1160s establishments in England 1536 disestablishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Grade II* listed buildings in Nottinghamshire Stanhope family