Summary
Medieval moated site and associated fishponds.
Reasons for Designation
The moated site and fishponds 225m north of Wiverton Hall is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: the moated site survives particularly well in the form of a series of substantial earthworks, and it is a good example of its type;
* Potential: it has been subject to little disturbance with the result that the preservation of buried archaeological deposits, including waterlogged organic material, will provide the potential to enhance our knowledge and understanding of the manorial complex and the wider landscape in which it functioned;
* Documentation: as a result of historical documentation relating to the site, the remains are quite well understood, and provide a good opportunity for understanding the development and utilization of a manorial moated site;
* Group value: it has strong group value with the Grade II* listed Wiverton Hall and the scheduled Civil War gun battery and covered way, both to the south-east of the moated site.
History
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.
Documentary sources record that William the Conqueror granted manors at Wiverton to William Peverel and Walter de Encourt. The manors changed ownership several times before finally passing to the Chaworth family following the marriage of Sir Thomas Chaworth to Isabel, daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury. In 1448 Sir Thomas had a new manor house built to the south-east of the moated site and was granted licence to make a deer park. The manorial complex survived until it was destroyed during the Civil War but relatively little is known about it. Diagrams drawn by Robert Smythson (c1535-1614), the celebrated Elizabethan architect, correlate to plans for the refurbishment of the earlier hall complex. This plan is difficult to interpret but suggests that the earlier hall lies to the north of the current hall, possibly under the stable and cottages. The gatehouse survives but has been altered and incorporated into the Grade II* Wiverton Hall, a small country house dating to 1814. The proximity of the moated site to the C15 hall and the village of Wiverton, situated to the north-east of the moat, suggests that the moated site was the location of the original manorial house. The village of Wiverton was mentioned in Domesday and in 1377 had 47 taxpayers but it was enclosed and depopulated in the early C16.
The subsequent evolution of the site can be traced using cartographic sources. Chapman’s map of 1774 shows that by this date the main approach to the house had moved from the south to a tree-lined avenue on the west side. Sanderson’s Map of 1835 depicts the layout of the site much as it is today except that the moat is shown to be open rather than wooded and there are two watercourses that have since been ploughed out. One runs north-east from the moat and is evident on some aerial photographs as a cropmark; and the other is to the east of the Hall joining up with the watercourse to the south, also shown as a cropmark. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1884 shows that the moat had become heavily wooded, as had the western half of the area between the moat and Wiverton Hall.
In 2019 a desk-based archaeological site assessment of Wiverton Hall was done by Nottinghamshire County Council, and Historic England produced an interpretation of the aerial photographs and Environment Agency LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging: a remote sensing technique, used for high-resolution survey of landscapes). The extensive remains of earlier settlement and cultivation have been noted surrounding the Hall, beyond the scheduled monument. These remains, which are visible as cropmarks and earthworks on both aerial photographs and LiDAR, include the cropmark of a probable medieval settlement, boundaries, and ridge and furrow cultivation to the immediate east of the Hall, much of which was still largely earthwork in the 1960s but has since been ploughed leaving only slight earthwork remains. The cropmark traces of earlier, probably later prehistoric/ Roman settlement enclosures can be seen amongst these medieval features to the east, and in the field to the south of the hall.
Details
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
The monument includes the remains of a medieval moated site and associated fishponds, situated 225m north of Wiverton Hall.
DESCRIPTION
The remains include earthworks defining a sub-rectangular moat. The north-western side of the moat is approximately 50m in length, 11m in width and a maximum of 2m in depth. The south-western and north-eastern sides of the moat are 30m and 45m in length respectively, 12m in width and 2m in depth. The south-eastern side of the moat has been infilled but will survive as a buried feature. The bank along the southern edge of this is not discernible on the ground but has been identified on LiDAR. The island within the moat is up to 2m higher than the surrounding land. A linear depression adjoining the north-eastern corner of the moat, up to 2m in depth and continuing on an ENE-WNW axis for 125m, is interpreted as a contemporary water control feature in the form of a fishpond. A counterscarp bank up to 2m in height adjoining the southern edge of the depression is comprised of spoil from the excavation of the pond.
