Moated site 300m south west of Sowley Green Farm

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1020139
Date first listed:: 09-Mar-2001

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1020139
Date first listed:: 09-Mar-2001

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Suffolk
District:: West Suffolk (District Authority)
Parish:: Great Thurlow
National Grid Reference:: TL 70373 50795

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 300m south west of Sowley Green Farm survives well. The island displays little evidence of disturbance by post-medieval and modern activity and will retain buried evidence for structures and other features relating to the development and character of the site throughout its periods of occupation. The buried silts in the base of the moat will contain artefacts relating to the period of occupation, and organic evidence including evidence for the local environment in the past, is also likely to be preserved in waterlogged deposits in the moat.

Comparisons between this site and with further examples, both locally and more widely, will provide valuable insights into the development and nature of settlement in medieval England.

Details

The monument includes a medieval moated site at Sowley Green. The moated site includes a sub-rectangular island measuring a maximum of 60m east to west by 52m north to south. This is enclosed by a water-filled moat, measuring up to 12m wide and 2.5m deep. A shallow causeway across the west arm of the moat is not thought to be original.

The pheasant feeder on the island and the drain cover on the northern edge of the north arm of the moat 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. 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:: 33311
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Other
SMR, Haverhill and District Archaeological Group, Sowley Green, (1978)

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.