Catterton Hall moated site and adjacent building platform

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.

Catterton moated site is a well preserved example of a medieval manor site, retaining upstanding earthwork features on the main island and beyond the moat ditch to the north and east. The site will also retain important archaeological deposits, including organic remains within the moat ditches and in those sections now infilled. The two sets of ridge and furrow provide a sample of the wider medieval open field system which was associated with the manor house and the settlement of Catterton. This sample places the moated site in its wider landscape context and provides information about the medieval economy of the site.

Details

The monument includes the earthworks of a triangular moated enclosure with buried and earthwork remains of a second enclosure to the west. It also includes a building platform to the east of the main moat, the earthworks of boundary features and two sets of ridge and furrow to the north and east of the main moat. The main moated island is triangular, with the northern and western arms of the moat ditch, which are both approximately 100m long, forming a right angle and the south eastern arm following a slightly irregular course to complete the circuit. The island thus formed retains a number of low earthworks and levelled areas that are interpreted as the remains of Catterton Hall which is mentioned in both 13th and 16th century documents. Around much of the edge of the island there is a broad low bank which at other sites has been shown to have resulted from periodic dredging of the moat ditch following its construction. At the southern end of the island there is a small fishpond which is now used as a cattle watering hole. To the west, immediately beyond a hedge line, there are the heavily silted earthworks of a second much smaller moated island. A moat ditch extends northwards from the encircling ditch of this smaller island. It then turns south westwards and then southwards to partly enclose another small area of land which an early aerial photograph shows to lack the ridge and furrow which cover the surrounding fields. These ditches, which are now infilled, show as soil marks on later aerial photographs and as a slight depression on the ground. To the east of the main moated island there are the earthworks of a small building platform, with an east to west boundary ditch lying just to its north. To the north of this ditch there is a set of curving ridge and furrow orientated north-south, with a second set orientated roughly east-west to be parallel with the northern arm of the moat. This ridge and furrow are the remnants of the open field system which originally surrounded the medieval settlement of Catterton. Forming the northern boundary of these two sets of ridge and furrow is an east-west, flat bottomed depression which is crossed by the earthwork of the causeway between Catterton village and the main moated island. This causeway can also be traced across the east-west ridge and furrow. All post and wire fencing is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath is included.

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:

30109

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Le Patourel, H.E J, Monograph Series No 5 in The Moated Sites of Yorkshire, Vol. 5, (1973), indexed

End of official list entry

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