Kettlethorpe Hall, in Kettlethorpe

Kettlethorpe, Lincolnshire

Kettlethorpe is a village and civil parish west of the city of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. The hamlets of Hardwick and Laughterton lie within this parish.-Church:...

, Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, noted for its connection to Katherine Swynford

Katherine Swynford

Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster , née Roet , was the daughter of Sir Payne Roet , originally a Flemish herald from County of Hainaut, later...

, is now a modest Victorian house, enclosing fragments of the former manor house

Manor house

A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...

 including the gatehouse

Gatehouse

A gatehouse, in architectural terminology, is a building enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a castle, manor house, fort, town or similar buildings of importance.-History:...

, within the surviving moat

Moat

A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...

. This moat and its cleaning was one of the egregious examples of MPs' expenses claims which aroused public ire during 2009 and contributed to the retirement of its owner, Douglas Hogg, from the House of Commons.

Sir Hugh Swynford (died in 1371) married Katherine Roelt, whose sister is believed to have been the wife of Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...

. Lady Katherine became governess to the children of John of Gaunt, son of Edward III

Edward III of England

Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...

. Her four children by Gaunt, the Beauforts, were eventually legitimized when Lady Katherin married John of Gaunt as his third wife, in 1396.