More information : [SK 8428 8713] Manor House [G.T.] (Site of). (1)
The site of the crenellated Manor House of Hermit Dam
distinguished by a moat and fragmentary fish ponds. Finds have included carved stones and a gold ring temp. Henry VI bearing a French inscription; now in the possession of Sir H.J. Anderson. (2)
An almost circular moat with the remains of a fishpond attached to the S.W. corner. Published survey 25" (1940) revised. The locations of the finds were not ascertained. (3)
Additional references. (4-5)
MOATED SITE at SK 843 872 lies at 17m above OD in the bottom of a broad natural basin and NE of a wood called Hermit Dam.
The moat, although roughly square in plan, has markedly curved E and W sides. Despite plough damage surviving scarps show that the interior was slightly raised and that former buildings may once have stood on what is now a low mound with a central hollow, which comprises dark earth containing fragments of brick and limestone. The perimeter bank and ditch are in a variable state of preservation. On the NW the ditch is 1.75m deep and filled with water, whereas on the SE a drain has been cut through its bottom. The bank is best preserved on the E where it still stands to a height of 1.5m. To the S it has been severely mutilated, while on the W it forms a causeway for the track leading to Priory Farm. On the N the bank has been set back slightly from the edge of the ditch and is only just visible as a broad spread 0.25m high. Attached to the N side is an outer enclosure Orchard Piece, defined by well-marked water-filled ditches up to 1m deep which are linked to a small stream which forms the NE boundary.
To the E and S of the moat other shallow ditches with intermittent banks run W from the stream. These are presumably former
watercourses, perhaps bounding additional enclosures or serving merely as drains of relatively late date. Sinuous ditches such as
these are not unknown in wooded areas and if these are earlier than the moat then it is possible that the latter was built in what had been woodland in the early Middle Ages. To the W rectangular fishponds flank the farm track.
The boggy grassland NW of the moat is occupied by a group of slight earthworks of at least two phases, including an L-shaped low bank and shallow ditch which cuts across an earlier cross-shaped ditch system connected to the N enclosure. The bank could have enclosed a post-medieval farm or cottages whose remains may be represented by the hollow and scarped areas in the NW quadrant. This may equate with the sort of 'hamlet' near the moat mentioned by Stark.
SK 840 870 (FCE) Field names probably indicate that a distinct block of land associated with the moat originated as a Medieval deer park. It stands out as a unit on the 1826 estate map, extending to about 634 acres. (6)
SK 842 872. Hermit Dam moated site. Scheduled no. LI/193. (7)
The moat and fishponds described by the previous authorities, were visible as earthworks and mapped from good quality air photographs. There was no evidence for a building within the moated enclosure, nor were the earthworks of the deer park boundary visible on air photographs. To the west of the moated site is another moat and fishpond, which lies within the deer park, and is recorded in SK 88 NW 16. The ditched and embanked enclosures to the NW of the moat, described by authority 6 as being part of Medieval or Post Medieval settlement, is recorded in SK 88 NW 43.
(Morph No. LI.694.2.1-4)
This description is based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database.
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