Virtual history tour information
Below you’ll find everything you need for your history tour of Moignes Court, including maps showing the route around the grounds and information about the rooms open to visitors inside the historic manor house. Use this guide as you explore to discover some of the fascinating features and stories along the way. For those who would like to delve deeper into the 750 years of history, architecture, archaeology and family stories of Moignes Court, please click below for more indepth information on our Heritage and History Page (link is at the bottom of this page)
Tour Maps of the grounds and house
map of Moignes Court Grounds
On public open days you can roam the grounds for free between 9am and 1pm. Here is a map of the grouns and sites of interest to visit during your stay. Please be aware if it has been raining we recommend ourdoor waterproof shoes as the ground can be wet and muddy.
Moignes Court - Ground floor Tour
The Old Kitchen
Ground floor - Old Kitchen
The old kitchen:
The arch in the middle of the west wall was the location of the original cooker and chimney. The fireplace on the north wall was installed in the 18th century. Behind the north wall is where the original cross passage ran. Prior to 1890 the original ceiling height would have been about 1 metre lower than at present.
Pistol belonging to John Cree and his sabre which has the George 3rd imprint on the blade.
Miniatures of the Stickland family into which John Cree junior married.
The stained glass window on staricase shows the Cree family Coat of Arms. The trading ship is sailing between the sun in the east and west.
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Moignes Court - First Floor Tour
Court Room
First Floor Court Room
The arched window on your right as you enter was the original entrance to the courtroom which illustrates how much the floor was raised to allow for higher ceilings on the ground floor.
We believe that the middle of the three medieval arched windows was moved from the north wall of the courtroom in order to install a chimney. Originally these would have had window seats.
The arched wooden door would have led to the original medieval solar wing where the family would have been able to retire from the public life of the courtroom. The word ‘solar’ may have derived from the latin ‘souls’ meaning ‘alone’.
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This block is an item collection and allows multiple similar items to be added and removed. You can drag these items to reorder them.
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To add more items to this collection, click the + button that appears to the right of the final item when hovering your mouse over this block.
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You can change the number of items shown on each row by clicking on the Change Layout icon. This can be found on the right hand toolbar.
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To remove an item from this collection, hover your mouse over it and click on the red Delete icon that appears to the top left of the item
Portraits in the Court Coom
Portrait of John Cree: John fought in the Napoleonic wars and inherited from his uncle who was also called John Cree. One of the conditions of the inheritance was that John change his surname from McMahon to Cree. At the time he was living in Dublin where his father was an apothecary. John Cree senior was a free trader based in Dakar who bought Indian cloth which he exported to Europe. He mainly used the Danish owned Asiatic trading company so he could get around the monopoly of the East India company. When he retired to London he also leased a country house called Thornhill at Stalbridge. John Cree junior decided to terminate the lease on Thornhill and in 1826 purchased the Owermoigne estate which included Moignes Court.
Grant of Arms to the Cree family dated 1815: Here you can see the Cree coat of arms and crest. Originally this was granted to John Cree senior in India and when John Cree junior inherited he was able to use the Cree coat of arms.
John Robert Cree (rector of owermoigne) and his brother James Cree (rector of Chaldon) both had no children but their sister Georgiana did with a rector from Devon called George stone. Their son George John Stone inherited Moignes Court from his uncle John Robert Cree. Once again, the condition of inheritance was that George change his surname to Cree. You can see a photo of the family at this time in their carriage which would have been housed in the outbuilding in Moignes Court courtyard.
George had 3 children Aubrey, Cecil, Adrian and Evelyn. Adrian died as a young man in 1916 in Ypres during WW1 and the family received a letter and medallion from the king. During WW2 the Crees had to vacate Moignes Court because it was used by the army. The family possessions were locked in the attic which was looted by soldiers and the medallion stolen and sold. Later a family bought the medallion from an antique shop and hung it above the fireplace of every house they owned. When they retired they decided to track down the family of Adrian Victor Cree as his name displayed on the medallion. The medallion was eventually given to Martin Cree and is now back in the house.
Cecil Cree inherited Moignes Court and married Dorothy Cree. They passed the house on to their son George. You can also see a portrait of his sister Cecily who is also pictured here as a girl tossing a white rose to the Prince of Wales (later Edward 7th) in 1928 while he was driving out of Max Gate having lunched with Thomas Hardye.
Ariel photo 1961: it is possible to see the original ditch around the village going through the field to the south of the house.
1920’s photo: you can see the croquet lawn installed by Dorothy Cree.
FOr more in depth information about the origins of moignes court from 1267 onwards
