Record Details
| NHER Number: | 16212 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Site of possible double moat of presumed medieval date |
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Summary
The site of a possible moat of medieval date has been reported by a local informant. Its location corresponds with two adjoining rectilinear enclosures visible as earthworks on aerial photographs, perhaps representing a double moat. Although medieval pottery together with metalworking debris has been recovered nearby (NHER 21577), the identification of the site as a moat is uncertain, its general appearance not being sufficiently distinct from the complex drainage earthworks visible in the surrounding area. Ditches conjoined to the enclosures, and a postulated causeway encircling the site to the west, are thought to form part of these drainage features. The earthworks are now levelled.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TG 1140 0386 |
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| Map Sheet: | TG10SW |
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| Parish: | WYMONDHAM, SOUTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK |
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Full description
Site of moat.
Rectangular moat infilled around 1930; dry. Said to be visible after ploughing, at present under crop.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 4 June 1980.
January 1946. Context 1.
Aerial photograph (S1) shows moat as a slight horizontal earthwork, with a smaller enclosure to north, and linking ditches to east and south. A curving ditched causeway to west indicates a possible outer enclosure bounded by a road (Context 2).
Site extended, taking in site NHER 21577.
Compiled by B. Cushion (NLA), 17 September 1998.
June 2011. Norfolk NMP.
The postulated moat described above is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs (S2)-(S5), centred at TG 1147 0381. If this interpretation of the site is correct, it in fact represents a double moat, with a larger rectangular enclosure adjoining a smaller square or trapezoidal enclosure to the north, with a narrow area of ground between them. The general appearance of the earthworks, however, is not that distinctive: they are rather irregular and insubstantial, and do not particularly stand out from the complex drainage earthworks that surround them. The latter, which have not been mapped by the NMP, include drainage ditches adjoining the south and east sides of the supposed moat, and the postulated causeway (described above and included within the limits of the site) which appears to encircle the site to the west but which in fact seems to made up of several lengths of drainage ditch. That said, further to the north (adjacent to Manor Farm) a roughly square arrangement of moat-like ditches has been noted (NHER 54641), while boundaries and enclosures of probable medieval to post medieval date have also been recorded to the northwest (NHER 54640). The relationship with these two sites and with the wider area of unrecorded drainage earthworks should be borne in mind in any interpretation or assessment of the site.
The rectangular enclosure measures approximately 39.5m long and 32m wide. The square or trapezoidal enclosure to the north measures 27.5m by 25m. Contrary to the information given above (that they were levelled around 1930), the earthworks survived until at least 1964 (S5) but were levelled at some point after that date.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 15 June 2011.
Monument Types
- CAUSEWAY? (Unknown date)
- DRAINAGE DITCH? (Unknown date)
- ENCLOSURE? (Unknown date)
- RECTANGULAR ENCLOSURE? (Unknown date)
- SQUARE ENCLOSURE? (Unknown date)
- TRAPEZOIDAL ENCLOSURE? (Unknown date)
- MOAT? (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
Associated Finds - none
Protected Status
Sources and further reading
| --- | Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card. |
| <S1> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1946. RAF 3G/TUD/UK/52 5298 31-JAN-1946 (NHER TG 1103D). |
| <S2> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1946. RAF 3G/TUD/UK/52 5239-40 31-JAN-1946 (NMR). |
| <S3> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1946. RAF 3G/TUD/UK/70 5325-6 28-FEB-1946 (NMR). |
| <S4> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1955. RAF 58/1896 (F22) 0084-5 10-OCT-1955 (NMR). |
| <S5> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1964. RAF 58/6209 (F21) 0042-3 11-MAR-1964 (NMR). |
Related records - none
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