Moated site and fishpond at Salter Street 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 and fishpond at Salter Street Farm is an important survival of a small moated site, of a type which once characterised the area. The remains are rare in being well preserved and will tell us much about both the site itself and more broadly about the nature of moated sites in the area. In addition the surviving arms of the moat and pond have remained water filled and will preserve environmental information relating to the site and landscape in which it was built; whilst the northern arm, infilled before the 1880s, can be expected to preserve earlier phases of the moat ditch.

Details

The monument includes the buried and earthwork remains of a small five-sided moated site and fishpond at Salter Street Farm. The moated site is located in a broad low-lying river valley which once contained a series of moats and fishponds linked by streams and leats.

The moated site measures approximately 90m east to west by 60m north to south. Three arms of the moat survive in good condition and are water-filled. They vary from 5m to 10m wide, being widest across the western and eastern angles and 1m to 2m deep.

A Grade II Listed timber-framed farmhouse of largely 16th and 17th century construction, occupies the south east portion of the moat island and is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath it is included. The surface of the island is level with the surrounding ground level, although the remains of an inner lip to the moat survive around the south east and east sides. The northern arm of the moat has been partly infilled. However, buried deposits will survive below the later farm buildings and drive, and remnants of the arm survive towards the northern angle as a dry ditch approximately 18m long, 4m to 6m wide and 1m to 2m deep.

To the south west of the moat there is an irregularly shaped fishpond measuring approximately 30m by 10m and orientated north to south, which forms an associated water management feature, thought to have been linked to the moat by a sluice in the south west angle of the moat.

The farmhouse and its associated upstanding buildings, all modern foot bridges, the surface of garden paths, patios and driveways and all garden furniture and fences are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath all these features 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:

30006

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
description of moated site and pond, White, H , Remarks and Notes,

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