More information : [Centred at SK 6293 9427] Moat [T.l.] (1)
A camp, near the Roman road from Littleborough - ferry to Doncaster,
about 200 yards from Mr. Short's of Martin, `is now covered with
trees and underwood; the ditches are nearly grown up, though they
evidently have been deep,.. probably was a station to defend the
Roman road ... a little to the west; several smaller stations are
adjoining, but of late years the ditches have been filled up. A
little to the north-east are traces of a Roman pottery, many broken
vessels of various forms are now found, several pieces I have seen,
they are made of blue clay and slightly baked.' (2)
`Three silver Roman coins of Antonius [A.D.139-161,] Adrianus [?
Hadrian A.D. 117-138,] and Faustina [A.D.139-141,] together with part
of a vase, and numerous pieces of pottery, were found ... [A.D. 1828]
on the site of the Roman station at Martin, ... The form of the fort,
... may still be distinctly traced; and even when the field is
covered with full-grown corn, an octagon figure is perceptible from
the stems being shorter on the site of the buildings than in other
places.' (3)
"At Martin is a square camp with double vallum and fosse, ...
described by W. Peck, writing in 1815 (a) ... [and] Francis White,
writing in 1864, (b) ..."
[V.C.H. quotes Peck (a) and White (b) the latter's report is based on
Bailey (3)
White's account is unreliable, his ".......... 'octagon figure' can
only be explained by the two four-sided ramparts.]
The outer vallum was 215 ft. on either side, with rounded corners,
and the inner defence, leaving a court 50 ft. wide between the two
entrenchments, had its two opposite angles at the north-west and
south-east considerably rounded".[cf. SK 69 SE/14.] (4)
[Area centred: SK 6287 9483] 'A' earthwork referred to by V.C.H.
under Harworth, now under Forestry Commission. Nothing found when
planting. V.C.H. reports Antonine coins and pottery wasters. (5)
Roman Building: Martin Hall, Harworth. (6)
Earthworks at Martin Beck, Harworth, - visited recently by Dorothy
Greene and J. Bartlett. 'There is a rampart standing 3-6 ft. high
above the ditch on 3 sides of a rectangular oblong, also counterscarp
bank on S.W. side. Oswald in his MS. remarks "double rampart and
slight ditch of Iron Age appearance," but I would not like to rule
out possibility of its being Roman.' (7)
A moat situate in Manor Holt. oThe exact date or for what purpose
this moat was used for none can now tell. Some say it surrounded a
Roman Fort or Camp, others it surrounded a Baronial residence ...
foundations of walls are still visible. (c). (8)
The walls mentioned cannot be shown on the card. They do not appear
above ground.
(c)The purpose of this earthwork is unknown to me. A group of people
made an attempt to excavate the centre about 1958 with negative
results. Some quarried stone and flat tile was found, but no dating
evidence for any structure which might have existed there. (d).
The earthwork has never been under crop[ Authy. 3] An area to the
south was used for arable purposes until planted by the Forestry
Comm. about 1930. The outer ditches are used in the land drainage
system, but were utilized and not constructed for that purpose.
Nothing of antiquity has been found in the vicinity in recent years.
No similar earthwork exists on this property. (e). (9)
Scheduled. (10)
SK 6293 9427 The earthworks at Manor Holt agree with the general
descriptions given in the preceeding recording with the exception of
that by Authy. 3. The inference that the site can only be traced by
crop marks would appear to be erroneous. There is nothing visible in
the area sited by Authy. 5 and it is presumed that it is only a
general indication of the area planted by the Forestry Commission
at that time. The gamekeeper of the estate confirmed that areas
N and S of the earthworks were afforested.
The predominating feature is a centrally situated moated enclosure.
This is rectangular and measures 30 m. E-W by 23 m. N-S. The enclosed
platform is 1.7 m. above the water level of the moat, whilst the
outside ground surface averages 1 m. above the water level. The
enclosure is tree covered, and overgrown, with no indications of
walling visible above ground. In the northern corner are trenches
presumably dug by excavators in 1958, which reveal traces of dry
stone walling. The moat is water filled on all four sides but with no
means visible to provide for its filling. A modern ditch has been
added as an overflow in its W. corner.
The feature is consistent with the remains of a homestead moat.
Around three sides of the moat are the remains of a bank with an
external ditch. The bank, complete on the S and W sides, has three
well preserved rounded corners with an appearance similar to that of
Roman construction. This bank averages 1.2 m. in height and its ditch
1.7 m. deep. The ditch appears to have been V-shaped, and very wide
in its original state, but is now mainly silted up. In the E, S, and
part of the W sides, a modern drain has been cut into the bottom of
the ditch and utilized for field drainage. 34 m. along the E. side,
from the SE corner, the bank terminates by curving inwards. Here the
remians are very slight, and average about 0.5 m. high. There is
nothing to indicate the continuation of this side to the NE corner.
The ditch is still visible here but is narrower, and has a different
from of construction indicating a probable later incorporation.
There is no bank to the N apart from a portion extending 22m. E from
the NW corner. This tails off to ground level and no further trace is
visible.
A certain amount of ground disturbance occurs on the N. side which
could account for the disappearance of any former bank.
The earthwork is situated in reasonably flat country with the ground
rising slightly to the N. This might account for the present remains
being better preserved in the south if the whole feature had been
originally constructed as a double moat.
The bank and moat however, do not appear to be contemporary, and are
not symmetrically constructed to one another.
A 25" A.M. survey of this feature has been made. (11)
The earthworks are as described above save that the water has been
drained off and new channels cut in the bottoms of the ditches.
Published 25" survey revised. It is of course entirely possible that
Bailey's octagonal cropmark is a different site located in the
vicinity, but no traces were seen on the ground and examination of
available air cover(a) was negative. (12)
A medieval moat is visible as an earthwork on air photographs at SK 6293 9427.
The feature comprises a sub rectangular platform measuring 34m by 29m surrounded by a 10m wide moat. A narrower bank surrounds the moat. A 5m wide external ditch with an internal narrow bank is separated from the moat by a berm of between 7m and 26m.
(13) |