Moated site at Newland 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 Newland Farm survives in good condition and as the moat island is unencumbered by modern building, it will retain evidence of the structures which originally occupied it. The surrounding moat survives well and is undisturbed. It will thus retain environmental evidence from the original fills relating to the period of the monument's construction. The monument is one of a number of moated sites in this part of East Yorkshire, clustering along both the northern and southern sides of the River Humber, which represent a typical form of settlement of low-lying and flood plain land such as this in the medieval period.

Details

The monument includes a moated site at Newland Farm, 150m to the south of the village of Eastrington. The moated site includes a quadrangular raised platform with dimensions of 88m by 95m surrounded by moat ditches. Overall the site measures 100m by 112m. The `U' shaped ditches range from around 4m to 8m wide across their tops, and are between 1m and 2m deep. They are all intact except the western arm, which has been partly infilled. Where it has beem infilled the ditch will survive as a buried feature. The extant part of the moat ditch on the western side is up to 10m wide with an interior bank 1m high. In places, on the other three sides, there are also remains of low interior banks, between 0.2m and 0.5m high and 4m wide. At the south western corner of the moat platform is a rectangular depression measuring around 12m by 9m and some 0.3m deep, the site of a building which occupied the moat platform, the remains of which will survive as buried features. At the south eastern corner of the moat platform there are the remains of a partly silted fishpond, 25m long and 10m wide and up to 0.4m deep. Newland was given over to the order of Knights Hospitallers by King John, and one of its greatest benefactors was Roger de Peyteirn, Lord of Altofts. The monument is mentioned in a Yorkshire Deed, where the power of attorney was granted for the handing over of a house and 26 acres in `Neweland by Estryington' from, 1423 to 1424. All post and wire fencing and gates, animal feed and water dispensers, modern farm buildings, the paved surfaces to farm yards and access roads, are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them 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:

26598

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Lawton, G, Religious Houses of Yorkshire, (1853)
Le Patourel, H.E J, Monograph Series No 5 in The Moated Sites of Yorkshire, (1973), 115

Other
Humberside SMR, Sites and Monuments Record Sheet, (1996)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.