Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

Feature on (S1) looks like a moat.
E. Rose (NAU).

Informant [1] states that there is a clear house platform here.
E. Rose (NLA), 19 December 1991.

December 2002. Norfolk NMP.
The earthwork remains of what appears to be a medieval moat/house platform are clearly visible on NLA oblique aerial photographs from 1993 (S2) and 1974 (S3), RAF vertical images from 1945-6 (S4-5) and OS aerial photographs from 1973 (S6). The site is centred on NGR TG0064 4096, and the platform appears to be about 50m (approximately east to west) by 60m (approximately north to south). However, the southern edge is unclear due to the adjacent hedgerow. A ditch can be seen on three sides of the platform (the west, north and east sides - again the hedgerow is masking the south side) and it is about 10-15m across.
Field drainage can be seen in the surrounding field and quite a large drain appears to cross the field and then skirt the earthwork to the north and possibly joins in to the ditch along this side. This drain is in use today and is included on the modern 1:10000 OS map and can also be seen on the OS 2nd edition 25" map (S8). (This has not been mapped). There are other earthworks visible in this field (not shown on maps) which have been plotted. This includes some of the other smaller ditches, which may also be to do with drainage, but now no longer in use and some banks and ditches (centred at TG 0066 4110) of uncertain origin.
Further earthworks can be seen near to this site, but just across the road, these are recorded under NHER 27883. There is a possibility that they are related.
H. Clare (NMP), 18 December 2002.

February 2003.
Interior higher than surrounding land. Ditch about 5m wide part boggy with reeds; part grass filled. Several old willow in ditch to north. Bramble to east fringed by old hawthorn. Banked to south and east. Several low earthworks running north to south between streams. Possible hollow way running west, north of stream. Also two possible platforms about 1m high, 42m long, 12m wide, adjacent to stream and enclosures.
H. Paterson (A&E), February 2003.

May-June 2008. Field Survey.
Detailed observations of the earthworks were made by A. Rampley and a sketch map was compiled.
Approximate measurements of the moat and associated banks were taken. A raised rectangular feature was identified on the southern edge of the platform, which was obscured by hedges in aerial photographs (see above). This extended across the full width of the platform and was interrupted near the centre by a 3.7m wide depression. The platform itself was seen to be almost square, with a central depression.
Banks and ditches to the north of the moat (centered at TG 0066 4110) which were recorded by the NMP in 2002 were also observed. These have been interpreted by A. Rampley as possible house platforms. Between these features and the moat there is a spring which channels water from the culvert into the north-western corner of the moat. Just east of the stream, a well-defined dry causeway was noted which appears to run from the north side of the moated site to the possible house platforms.
West of the moated site, two north-south linear depressions with raised contours on either side were recorded. Further west, immediately adjacent to the river, two rectangular features were identified. These are raised approximately 1m above field level and separated by a depression which emerges into a deep ditch running north-south and correspond to the possible platforms noted by H. Paterson in 2003. They appear to be related to water management on the site, and may have imported water rather than draining it.
A local artist has provided a reconstruction drawing of the site based on this survey information (S10).
See (S9) for further details.
10 June 2008.

June 2008. Field Survey.
Further field survey has prompted speculation that the course of the river may have changed over time. It is possible that the river was initially located further north, close to the house platforms noted to the north of the moated site, after which it was diverted and at some point the moated site constructed and a dam built down stream (NHER 24412). However, this remains very tentative.
See (S11) for further details.
H. Hamilton (NLA), 10 June 2008.

June 2008. Field visit.
The moated site is well preserved, with the moat surviving on three sides. The fourth arm would presumably have been on the line of the stream and hedgerow to the south. There is a raised bank on all four sides of the platform and this is higher on the south than on the other three sides. This bank is broadly comparable similar features known at other moated sites in Norfolk and could indicate the location of buried walls or structures. The northern arm of the moat is shown on the Ordnance Survey 1st edition 6-inch map (S12).
There is a large depression with associated banks north of the moat and the spring. The NMP team identified these features in 2002; they described them as 'banks and ditches (centred at TG 0066 4110) of uncertain origin'. Although they are located in an area labelled ‘The Manor House’ on the Ordnance Survey’s Landline and Master maps (S13 and S14), it is unlikely the depression and banks represent the site of a manor house. They are not the 'platforms' identified in 2003.
Two large platforms are located either side of a culvert at TG 0037 4102. They are adjacent to the stream, west of the moat and were identified in 2003 by Helen Paterson. They are noted in (S9). The platforms may indicate the location of the drainage pump (HER 51635) shown on (S12).
D. Robertson (NLA), 9 July 2008.

June 2012
Section 17 agreement (covering an earthwork survey) signed.
See (S15).
D. Robertson (HES), 7 June 2012.

Monument Types

• BANK (EARTHWORK) (Unknown date)
• DITCH (Unknown date)
• HOUSE PLATFORM (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• MOAT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

• SHINE
• Section 17 Agreements

Sources and further reading

Related records - none

Find out more...

• Parish Summary: Langham (Parish Summary)