Norwell Woodhouse moat and fishpond

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 Norwell Woodhouse is a good example of a small farmstead moat with an attached fishpond. Unusually for this part of the country, the moat and fishpond are wet. This indicates that organic material such as wood, leather and plant remains will be well-preserved.

Details

The monument includes the moat and the adjacent fishpond. The moat includes a rectangular island measuring c.60m from north-west to south-east and c.40m from north-east to south-west. The surrounding ditch remains round three sides of the island and is water-filled. On the north-west side it has been filled-in, possibly when the current farmhouse was built, and survives as a buried feature beneath the adjacent farm track. The moat is fed from a stream which enters the ditch at its northern corner. The ditch on this side is up to 4m deep and c.15m wide. On the south-west and south-east sides it is between 2m and 3m deep and c.10m wide. Approximately halfway along the south-east side it opens into a roughly rectangular fishpond which measures c.30m by c.15m. This heavily silted but waterlogged feature acts as an outlet for the moat, feeding water back into the stream via a sluice at its north-east end. Wooden sluice gates would have occupied the points where the fishpond joined the moat and stream, so that the flow of water and fish could be controlled. The island is presently occupied by an eighteenth century farmhouse and its outbuildings and a modern range of freestanding barns. The eighteenth century structures will have replaced a sequence of earlier buildings constructed in the medieval and post-medieval periods. The remains of these will survive beneath the more recent structures and also beneath the eighteenth century farmyard which now serves as a forecourt-garden. All the standing buildings are excluded from the scheduling, as are all modern walls, steps and garden features, the surfaces of all paths and drives, and all modern boundaries and gates, although the ground beneath 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:

13389

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Title: Ordnance Survey County Series 1:2500 Source Date: 1920 Author: Publisher: Surveyor: 25/9

End of official list entry

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