Record Details
| NHER Number: | 1037 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Medieval moat and post medieval causeway |
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Summary
This D shaped medieval moat has a post medieval brick causeway built over the north arm to provide access to the central platform. Although it is called a castle on Ordnance Survey maps this is unlikely. Roman and medieval pottery has been recovered here.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TF 9170 0972 |
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| Map Sheet: | TF90NW |
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| Parish: | BRADENHAM, BRECKLAND, NORFOLK |
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Full description
May 1973.
Surveyed during MPBW funded rapid moat survey.
See (S1).
J. Allen (NLA), 15 August 2001.
Moat, cited as castle site by Ordnance Survey. Probably not a castle. Flat bottomed ditch (part wet) surrounds slightly raised platform in shape an irregular rounded square, planted with conifers.
1 ?Medieval sherd found in molehill in interior.
Post medieval brick causeway.
Surrounded by arable.
A. Rogerson (NAU), 1975.
April 1976.
Roman sherd of greyware jar with sharply everted rim found here. 2nd century?
Ex [1]. Finder [2].
Reported in (S3) and noted on (S4).
October 2002.
Moat scheduled.
See (S2).
M. Horlock (NLA), 27 January 2002.
This site was that granted a licence to crenellate to Robert Drury (Speaker of the House of Commons) in 1510.
The licence, recorded in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII Vol1 page 143 Number 947 reads;
Licence to impark 2,000 acres of land, and 50 acres of wood, in the parishes of Hansted, Whepsted, Hornengserth, Great Nowton, Onhows, Buxhale, Harleston, Shelond, Rede, Chedbergh, Chevington, Hartest, Somerton, and Brokeley, Suff., with free warren and fishery there, and in Norf., Suff., and Bucks; also licence to enclose with walls and towers his manors of Hansted Hall, Buknahams, and Onhowshalle, Suff.
Dated 8 March 1510, granted, by privy seal, at Greenwich.
This wording has lead some to identify or search for a Hanstead Hall in Buckingham but Campling, Arthur, 1937, The History of the Family of Drury (London) Chapter 5 (online at http://www.genealogysource.com/druryhistpt5.htm and http://www.genealogysource.com/druryhistpt5b.htm) shows this to by a Drury property.
As with all late licences to crenellate (as well as most early ones) it is extremely unlikely that any seriously fortified house was built, but were the Ordnance Survey were aware of this licence when they called this the site of a castle?
Information from [3].
Monument Types
- CASTLE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
- MOAT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
- CAUSEWAY (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
Associated Finds
- POT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
- POT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
Protected Status
Sources and further reading
| --- | Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card. |
| --- | Designation: English Heritage. 1994? -2011?. English Heritage Digital Designation Record. Record. DNF419. |
| <S1> | Illustration: Rogerson, A. and Mauser, J.. 1973. Rapid Moat Survey Sketch Plan. |
| <S2> | Designation: English Heritage. 1990-2013. English Heritage Scheduling Notification. Notification. DNF419. |
| <S3> | Serial: 1976. Council for British Archaeology Group 7 Bulletin of Archaeological Discoveries for 1976. No 23. p 3. |
| <S4> | Record Card: Ordnance Survey Staff. 1933-1979?. Ordnance Survey Record Cards. TF 90 NW 3; TF 90 NW 22. |
Related records - none
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