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.
Sharrow Hall is a very well preserved example of a moated site which continued
to be occupied into the 17th century. It has suffered only minimal disturbance
since it was abandoned and will retain buried remains relating to all periods
of occupation, including those of one or more moated houses. The importance of
the moated site is enhanced by its association with a wide variety of
ancillary features which appear to date to more than one phase of occupation.
The survival of Chapel Lane is also of interest and the existence of
documentary evidence relating to the site adds to its importance.
Details
The monument is the site of a 12th to 17th century moated house called Sharrow
Hall, and includes the moated site together with a complex of earthworks
representing the remains of enclosures, a sample of ridge and furrow, a
dovecote and a road and driveway. Further ridge and furrow and traces of the
road also survive beyond the monument but have not been included in the
scheduling.
The moated site consists of a roughly rectangular platform measuring about 50m
by 20m, enclosed by a moat or ditch with an average width of 8m and a current
depth of c.0.75m. Set approximately 5m in from the east end of the platform is
a depression measuring roughly 5m by 10m which may indicate the site of a
cellar. A channel links the north west corner of the moat with the stream to
the west. Because of the level of the site it is unlikely that the moat was
ever waterfilled. Instead, together with the channel, it would have been used
to drain the site.
Excavation at the west end of the moat by the Derbyshire Archaeological
Society in the early 1980s revealed roof tile and pottery dating from the 12th
to the 17th centuries. This indicates a long period of occupation. Earthworks
confirm that a wide range of ancillary features existed round the moated site.
They include a rectangular platform, flanking the drainage channel noted
above, measuring approximately 25m wide by 40m long by 1m high, which is
interpreted as the site of a range of buildings whose outer walls survive as
low linear earthworks with gaps marking the location of doorways. In addition,
south of the moated site, is a slightly sunken enclosure with a roughly 20cm
square building platform inside its south west corner. This enclosure measures
approximately 40m square and is bounded on all but the south side by a
prominent bank measuring up to 5m wide and 2m high. This bank is interpreted
as the remains of a wall and suggests that the enclosure was either a walled
courtyard or, alternatively, a garden. The wall divides the enclosure from the
moated site and also continued up the west side of the moat.
South of this enclosure is a linear sunken feature measuring approximately
140m long by 15m wide by 1.5m deep. In the past, this feature has been
interpreted as a fishpond because it lies on a former stream line. However,
though it may have originated as one or a number of ponds, in its present form
it appears to have been a driveway providing access to the enclosure south of
the moat by linking up with a lane which, until about 50 years ago, passed
north to south through the east side of the moated site. This lane, known as
Chapel Lane but referred to locally as the Coach Road, currently survives as a
flat-bottomed linear depression varying between 8m and 18m wide. A circular
mound at the junction of the lane and driveway may represent a turning circle
for carriages. The lane can also be traced in fields north of the moated site.
Another circular earthwork, comprising a low 9m wide mound surrounded by a
wall-trench, occurs north of the driveway, west of the enclosure. Its
dimensions and shape indicate that it may be the remains of a dovecote which
is known to have existed in the early 17th century, having been referred to in
a letter dated 31 May 1603. Other features surrounding the moated site include
a number of banked and ditched enclosures which will have served a variety of
purposes. These may have included pleasure gardens as well as kitchen gardens
and paddocks. In addition, both the field south of the driveway and the
enclosures west and north east of the moated site all retain faint but
distinct traces of ridge and furrow, the earthworks left by medieval and post-
medieval ploughing.
Although the finds made by the Derbyshire Archaeological Society indicate a
12th century origin for the moated site, little is known about its early
history except that it was occupied by the Pipard family. In the mid-15th
century it was leased or otherwise held from the Pipards by John Peche
(Peachy). During the 16th century it was acquired by William Twyford, who
became known as `of Sharrow Hall', and subsequently passed to the Gregson
family through the marriage of William's sole heir Anne to Thomas Gregson. In
1603, in the letter mentioned above, Francis Coke of Trusley tells John Coke
that `There is on it a very pretty house and a dovecote...'. At this time,
Sharrow Hall was to let and may have been in disrepair since, in a will
dated 1604, Alice Gregson left the ceiling of the parlour and the glass in the
windows to her son, Henry. The final record of the hall seems to be in a
conveyance of land dated 2 June 1640 in which it is listed with several other
properties. Reused timbers in present day Sharrow Hall Farm are thought to
have originated from the moated hall.
Excluded are all modern gates and fences, although the ground underneath is
included.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
