More information : (SK 552 058) Moat [G.T.].(1)
Mediaeval Hunting Lodge. Leicester Forest. [Sited at SK55270587]. (2).
Homestead Moat. Earthwork Class F. 'Bird's Nest Moat' is a very perfect quadrangular moat of considerable depth, supposed to mark the site of 'The Bird's Nest', a reputed hunting box of John of Gaunt.(3)
Bird's Nest, on the New Parks, still survives though the moat is
unimpressive. Fortunately its medieval dimensions are known. In 1526 it was refortified by Lord John Grey in the feud with the Hastings family and the moat was then 28 feet wide, 8 ft deep and had a compass of 357 yds while the drawbridge was 39 ft by 12 ft.(4)
Only the eastern arm now remains of this moat and that only as a rather shallow ditch. The area here is being developed but the site of the moat is apparently being left as an open grass-covered space. The north eastern arm survives but is in very poor condition. Published survey 25" acceptable. (5)
The rectangular moat, measuring 100m x 80m, was filled in during the 1940's. It now survives as a very shallow ditch on the northern arm, 10.0m wide, and 0.5m deep, and as a cropmark for the remaining arms. Fifteen meters to the east of the moat, earthwork banks c. 0.5m high and 30.0m long represent the site of a fishpond associated with the moat. The lodge known locally as `Birds Nest Lodge' that occupied the island is first mentioned in 1362, but was rebuilt with a moat in 1378. A drawbridge was added in 1526. Scheduled (RSM) No. 17027. (6)
A hunting lodge extant in the reign of Edward III and still in good repair in 1523. (7) |