Moated site at Ranton Hall Farm

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 moated site at Ranton Hall Farm survives well and represents a good example of its type. The moated island will retain structural and artefactual evidence of the buildings that originally occupied the island and evidence for the economy of its inhabitants.

Details

The monument includes a rectangular moated site at Ranton Hall Farm, Ranton. The moated island measures approximately 85m NW-SE by 55m SW-NE. It is slightly elevated and is partly occupied by a modern brick-built farmhouse. The moat is up to 10m wide and is mainly dry although the northern corner is waterfilled. The south-western arm has been infilled but will survive as a buried feature, partly overlain by agricultural buildings. The western and southern corners of the moat have been infilled but remain visible on the ground surface as shallow depressions. There is, today, a low causeway across the south-eastern arm of the moat but the location of the original entrance is uncertain. The brick-built farmhouse, its outbuildings and associated agricultural buildings, the telegraph poles and cable supports, all fence posts and the surfaces of all paths and driveways are excluded from the scheduling but the ground beneath all these features is included.

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.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

21513

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Hammer, M E, Staffordshire Archaeology in The Moated Sites of Staffordshire, Vol. 3, (1974), 34

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