Reasons for Designation
Around 6,000 moated sites are known in England. They consist of wide ditches,
often or seasonally water-filled, partly or completely enclosing one or more
islands of dry ground on which stood domestic or religious buildings. In some
cases the islands were used for horticulture. The majority of moated sites
served as prestigious aristocratic and seigneurial residences with the
provision of a moat intended as a status symbol rather than a practical
military defence. The peak period during which moated sites were built was
between about 1250 and 1350 and by far the greatest concentration lies in
central and eastern parts of England. However, moated sites were built
throughout the medieval period, are widely scattered throughout England and
exhibit a high level of diversity in their forms and sizes. They form a
significant class of medieval monument and are important for the understanding
of the distribution of wealth and status in the countryside. Many examples
provide conditions favourable to the survival of organic remains.
The moat at Hawton is a good example of a large manorial moat with an attached
fishpond and is unusual in that, due to its strategic location at the
confluence of two rivers and overlooking the 17th century road to Newark, it
was re-used as a Parliamentarian siegework during the Civil War. The Civil
War earthworks of Newark are the most extensive in the country and provide the
most complete physical evidence of mid-17th century siege warfare. The redoubt
at Hawton is one of the best-preserved elements as, together with the moat, it
has suffered only minimal disturbance since it was abandoned. Not only is the
relationship between the two phases of occupation preserved in its substantial
earthworks, but the remains of buildings and structures from both periods will
survive throughout the monument.
Details
The monument occupies a roughly right-angled bend of the River Devon 250m west
of the parish church at Hawton. It includes a late medieval moated site and
fishpond, a redoubt (temporary fortification) constructed inside the moat
during the Civil Wars of the 1640s, and the ridge and furrow inside the
redoubt which post-dates the period of Civil War occupation.
The moat surrounds a large platform or island measuring c.130m from north to
south by between 90m and 140m from east to west. The larger of the latter
dimensions applies to the north side of the platform and the variation is due
to the ditch along the east side being, in fact, the former course of Middle
Beck, a stream which now flows from east to west 180m north of the site. The
ditch surrounding the island varies in width from between 8m to 15m and is up
to 1.5m deep. A 5m wide outer revetment bank was constructed along the east
side and is divided approximately half-way along its length, which suggests
that, at this point, the stream may have fed a fishpond. This pond is no
longer extant, but a further well-preserved fishpond lies to the south and is
itself fed by a 5m wide channel from the stream. This pond is c.2m deep,
measures 37m from north to south by 7m from east to west, and would have been
controlled by a wooden sluice gate. Additional sluice gates controlled the
channels which fed the moat at its north-east corner and drained it at the
north-west and south-east corners; the latter where Middle Beck originally
joined the River Devon. Modern flood defences on the west and south sides of
the moat have, to a minor extent, interfered with the remains of the medieval
ditch system so that the outflow arrangements are no longer entirely clear,
both channels having been truncated by flood banks. Neither is it certain
that there was an outer bank along these edges, though such a bank does
survive to the north where it is c.8m wide and divides the moat from a
parallel overflow channel 3m wide.
The moat was the site of a 15th century manor house built by Thomas Molyneux.
The ditch was waterfilled when the moat was constructed, prior to the
diversion of Middle Beck. However, by the 17th century, the ditch was dry and
the site abandoned, indicating that the stream had been diverted by this time.
Along with the River Devon, the diverted Middle Beck formed part of the line
of circumvallation held by the forces of Parliament during the Civil War. The
abandoned moat became the site of a temporary fortress or redoubt comprising a
roughly rectangular area, measuring 150m from north to south by 80m from east
to west, enclosed by a 5m wide ditch which is connected at the south-east
corner and near the north-west corner to the moat ditch which then formed an
additional and more massive line of defence. The fact that the 15th and 17th
century ditches were linked suggests that it may have been possible to flood
them, possibly from the channel connecting the north-west corner of the moat
to the River Devon. An additional feature is the rectangular platform at the
north-east corner of the monument, sandwiched between the 15th and 17th
century ditches. Two breaks in the latter provide evidence of this area's
function as a gun-platform overlooking the Newark-Hawton road and commanding
the bridge over Middle Beck. The breaks in the later ditch allowed the guns
to be pulled back inside the inner defences when necessary and it is probable
that there would, in addition, have been a palisade along the inside edge of
the ditch. This palisade would have surmounted an earth rampart but, due to
later ploughing inside the redoubt, only the faintest trace of this remains.
Ploughing was probably carried out soon after the redoubt was dismantled and
is now represented by faint 8m wide ridge and furrow running from north to
south across the interior.
Hawton is just one of the many villages within a two mile radius of Newark
which became headquarters at various times for the units besieging the town
between late 1642, when it was first occupied by a Royalist garrison, and May
1646 when it finally surrendered. It is not known precisely when the moat
came into use as a Civil War fort, but a letter from the Committee before
Newark (that is, the Parliamentarian council of war) implies that all the
Parliamentarian headquarters were occupied by the 2nd March 1646. Some were
defended by a surrounding rampart and ditch. However, at Hawton three
redoubts were constructed: one east of the village, another west of the River
Devon overlooking Devon Bridge, and the third inside the abandoned moat. The
latter also guarded Devon Bridge and similarly commanded both the bridge over
Middle Beck, which carried the road from Hawton to Newark, and also the road
to Farndon which was the headquarters of the Parliamentarian General Poyntz.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
