Medieval settlement, moat and fishponds at Woodhill Park Farm

Reasons for Designation

Medieval rural settlements in England were marked by great regional diversity in form, size and type, and the protection of their archaeological remains needs to take these differences into account. To do this, England has been divided into three broad Provinces on the basis of each area's distinctive mixture of nucleated and dispersed settlements. These can be further divided into sub-Provinces and local regions, possessing characteristics which have gradually evolved during the past 1500 years or more. This monument lies in the East Wessex sub-Province of the south-eastern Province, an area in which settlement characteristics are shaped by strong contrasts in terrain. This is seen in the division between the chalk Downs, where chains of nucleated settlements concentrate in the valleys, and the Hampshire Basin, still dominated by the woodlands and open commons of the ancient New Forest, where nucleated sites are largely absent. Along the coastal strip extending into Sussex are more nucleations, while in Hampshire some coastal areas and inland valleys are marked by high densities of dispersed settlement, much of it post-medieval. The Berkshire Downs and Marlborough Downs local region is characterised by extremely low densities of dispersed settlements on the downland, with villages and dense `strings' of hamlets and farmsteads in the well-watered valleys. Modern settlements are interspersed with the earthworks of abandoned medieval settlement sites.

The medieval rural settlement of Woodhill is well preserved and is a good example of its type. It will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes the remains of the medieval rural settlement of Woodhill in the parish of Clyffe Pypard, located directly to the north and west of Woodhill Park Farm, incorporating a moated site and fishponds. The site lies on the low clay plain about 0.5km to the north of a prominent chalk scarp forming the north west edge of the Marlborough Downs. A hollow way up to 20m wide and over 400m long is flanked on both sides by rectangular house platforms and ditched enclosures. The most prominent feature is a large, triangular platform and moat in the north east corner of the site, interpreted as the remains of the manor house. The moat is steep-sided and up to 6m deep, and has been enlarged to the north and east to form a fishpond. The latter is bounded on the east by a mound 3m high. A second fishpond 150m long lies to the west of the moat. To the north west a 100m length of hollow way and associated platforms have been denuded by ploughing and are not included in the scheduling. Woodhill, one of the scattered tythings of the parish of Clyffe Pypard, is mentioned in Domesday and is recorded in the lay subsidy of 1334 and the poll tax of 1377. All fenceposts and water troughs as well as the two farm tracks crossing the site are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features 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:

31644

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Beresford, MW, Hurst, JG, Deserted Medieval Villages , (1971)
Beresford, MW, Hurst, JG, Deserted Medieval Villages , (1971), 206-207

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