Lawn Farm moated site and two ponds

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 and associated earthworks at Lawn Farm in Bucknall are a good example of a combined moated site and water management system in a broad valley bottom. The features all survive well and are unencumbered by modern buildings. The site has been the subject of trial excavations which have indicated the survival of important structural and artefactual evidence for the type and period of occupation and for the economy of the moated site's inhabitants. Only a small proportion of the site has been excavated and substantial important deposits will survive undisturbed.

Details

The monument at Lawn Farm, Bucknall is situated in a wide valley and includes a moated site and two associated ponds. All features on the site are aligned on a NW-SE axis, the ponds lying to the south-east of the moat. The moated site has external dimensions of approximately 120m NW-SE by 90m NE-SW. The north-eastern arm of the moat and part of the north-eastern edge of the moated island are overlaid by the embankment of a disused mineral railway but will survive as buried features. The north-western and south-eastern arms of the moat are approximately 13.5m wide and an average of 2m deep. The south-western arm measures up to 35m wide. There is a retaining bank at the north-western corner of the site which controlled the water supply within the moat. The dumping of industrial waste material on the south-western edge of the site has overlain and obscured the outer edge of the south-western arm of the moat, which will survive as a buried feature. The moat is partly waterlogged and fed by the stream which flows through the eastern pond and through the eastern arm of the moat in a culvert. The moated island is under rough pasture and measures approximately 65m square. It is raised above the surrounding ground surface. The south-western edge of the moated island is slightly lower than the rest of the island and a ramp-like feature has been cut into its southern corner. A second retaining bank, which is adjacent to and south of the moated site, is visible for a length of approximately 100m and measures up to 2m high. It forms both the outer edge of the south-eastern arm of the moat and the dam for water in the two ponds to the south-east. This retaining bank would have originally extended eastwards but has been buried by the railway embankment and so is no longer visible. There is a small breach in the western half of the dam. The two ponds lie adjacent to each other: both project southwards for approximately 180m and there is a raised embankment between them. The retaining bank visible at the southern edge of the eastern pond would have controlled the water supply from the stream into the western pond. A preliminary investigation of the site in 1966 included three excavation trenches and a resistivity survey. A trench on the platform exposed a well constructed stone foundation wall, roughly semi-circular and with footings embedded in clay. Green-glazed pottery retrieved during the excavation has been dated to the late 14th or early 15th centuries. The site is believed to have been in the demesne of Fenton Vivian-cum-Botteslow and was described in 1843 as an isolated farm within the ambit of Botteslow called the Lawn.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

21524

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Pape, T, Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club in History, Vol. 61, (1927), 136
Stanyer, S C, Brayford, S E, Stoke-on-Trent Museum Archaeological Society Report in Preliminary Excavation of Lawn Farm Moated Site, Bucknall, Vol. 2, (1966), 7-10

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