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Record Details

NHER Number:11874
Type of record:Monument
Name:Site of medieval moated rectory

Summary

A medieval moat is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs and as a slight earthwork. Detailed documentary research has established that this was the rectory of Wimbotsham, associated with the manor of Ingoldisthorpe. Part of the moat was excavated by the NAU in 1996, revealing that the rectory was established on the edge of a green in the 12th century, and the remains of a probable 13th to 14th century timber-framed building was excavated. The rectory began to decline in the 16th century, and was replaced by pasture by 1740. Several high-status medieval finds have been recovered from the site, including a copper alloy skimmer, a ewer spout and a Caen stone mortar.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TF 6155 0528
Map Sheet:TF60NW
Parish:WIMBOTSHAM, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

1975.
Cropmark, irregular rectangle, possibly a moated site, west of village.

1 July 1976. Ordnance Survey air photography.
Positive cropmarks.
Moat?
D. Voisey (NLA), 14 February 1995.

June-July 1996. Excavation.
Carried out in advance of pipeline across site, which partly remained as an earthwork.
Three periods of occupation revealed; firstly in the 12th century, to enclose a building platform in which a large building was erected in the 13th/14th. The building collapsed in the 15th/16th and the moat seems to have fallen out of use. Evidence for timber framed buildings and in period 2 a brick building whose tiled roof was later used for ground consolidation.
Finds of pottery, ironwork, and stone mortar.
This excavation was fully published in (S1). See also interim report (S2), publication synopsis (S3) and publication draft (S4). The results of this work are also summarised in (S5) and (S6).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.468).
E. Rose (NLA) 29 November 1996 amended by M. Langham-Lopez (HES), 8 July 2013 and P. Watkins (HES), 27 May 2019.

Published excavation report (S1) identifies this as the 'site of the rectorie' shown on a map of 1626, reproduced in (S2). The rectory is mentioned in a Dragge of Ingoldisthorpe Manor' of about 1412. The later history of the rectory is obscure, and it was united with the living of Stow Bardolph in 1769.
See (S1) for more detailed information on the history of the rectory.
S. Spooner (NLA) 28 April 2006.

September 2007. ALSF NHER Enhancement Sub-Unit D.
The moated site at Wimbotsham was constructed on a green-edge site towards the end of the 12th century, probably by the de Warenne family. The earthwork is the remains of a moated rectory. The excavation revealed evidence on the island within the moat for two earth building platforms, a series of internal drainage channels and the remains of a 13th or 14th century timber-framed building. A large number of finds relating to the medieval and late medieval occupation of the moated rectory were also recovered. The site appears to have become progressively more dilapidated during the later 15th and 16th centuries, its ditches being infilled with refuse and a tile roof to one of its buildings apparently collapsing. The rectory was eventually abandoned in the first quarter of the 1600s.
Information from (S1).
M. Dennis (NLA), 17 September 2007.

Monument Types

  • FINDSPOT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • FISHPOND? (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • VICARAGE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1399 AD)
  • BUILDING (Medieval - 1100 AD to 1299 AD)
  • BUILDING PLATFORM (Medieval - 1100 AD to 1299 AD)
  • DITCH (Medieval - 1100 AD to 1299 AD)
  • ENCLOSURE (Medieval to 19th Century - 1100 AD to 1899 AD)
  • MOAT (Medieval to 17th Century - 1100 AD to 1699 AD)
  • OCCUPATION LAYER (Medieval - 1100 AD to 1399 AD)
  • POST HOLE (Medieval to 16th Century - 1100 AD to 1599 AD)
  • TIMBER FRAMED BUILDING (Medieval - 1100 AD to 1399 AD)
  • YARD (Medieval - 1100 AD to 1299 AD)
  • BEAM SLOT (Medieval to 17th Century - 1500 AD to 1699 AD)
  • FLOOR (Medieval to 17th Century - 1500 AD to 1699 AD)
  • MIDDEN (Medieval to 17th Century - 1500 AD to 1699 AD)
  • TRACKWAY? (Medieval to 17th Century - 1500 AD to 1699 AD)
  • FINDSPOT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • FIELD BOUNDARY (16th Century to 21st Century - 1600 AD to 2100 AD)
  • STAKE HOLE (16th Century to 21st Century - 1600 AD to 2100 AD)

Associated Finds

  • ANIMAL REMAINS (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • AWL (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • DOOR FITTING (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • FILE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • FORK (UTENSIL) (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • HARNESS (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • INSECT REMAINS (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • JUG (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • METAL WORKING DEBRIS (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • MOLLUSCA REMAINS (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • MOLLUSCA REMAINS (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • MORTAR (VESSEL) (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • NAIL (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • PLANT REMAINS (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • POT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • ROOF TILE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • SAMPLE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • TILE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • VESSEL (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • WORKED OBJECT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • WORKED OBJECT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • HARNESS (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • POT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • SPUR (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • WINDOW GLASS (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

---Aerial Photograph: TF 6105C-D.
---Aerial Photograph: OS 76-125-493.
---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Photograph: Shelley, A.. 1996. KBS-KBY.
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
---Slide: Various. Slide. 1-202.
---Fiche: Exists.
<S1>Monograph: Shelley, A. 2003. A Moated Rectory at Wimbotsham. East Anglian Archaeology Occasional Papers. No 12.
<S2>Unpublished Contractor Report: Shelley, A. 1996. Excavation of a Medieval moated site at Wimbotsham, West Norfolk. An Interim Report. Norfolk Archaeological Unit. 192.
<S3>Unpublished Contractor Report: Shelley, A., Ashwin, T. and Rogerson, A. 1999. Preliminary synopsis for publication in East Anglian Archaeology. A medieval moated rectory at Wimbotsham, Norfolk. Excavations at Middleton Mount, 1987. Norfolk Archaeological Unit.
<S4>Unpublished Report: Shelley, A. 2000. A moated rectory at Wimbotsham, Norfolk. Publication draft.
<S5>Article in Serial: Nenk, B. S., Haith, C. and Bradley, J. 1997. Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1996. Medieval Archaeology. Vol XLI pp 241-328. pp 279-280.
<S6>Article in Serial: Gurney, D. and Penn, K. (eds). 1997. Excavations and Surveys in Norfolk 1996. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLII Pt IV pp 547-564. p 562.

Related records - none

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