More information : (SP42 64 3019) MOAT (NR) (1)
(SP 42613000) MOAT (NR) (2)
The remains of a moat surrounding Nether Worton House (SP 43SW9)
is continued to the north beyond the church. It probably included
Manor Farm at the garden of which it now ends and thus enclosed
the entire village. A broad ditch to the east in a meadow called
Mill Close probably enclosed the site of the mill. (3)
The VCH supposition that a moat enclosed the whole village cannot
be substantiated. The fragment of a now dry moat 0.8m deep (the
stream having been diverted) at SP42603018 is at the NW of an
area centred at SP42653015 and which would form the conventional
enclosure for a manor house, north of the church but not including
it. Similarly Manor Farm, a probably 17th cent house, would be
outside the area.
Surveyed at 1:2500
Nether Worton House, Jacobean and later, is on higher ground.
The moat to the S of the house is 8-10 ft higher than the
probable manorial one and appears to be wholly ornamental - 17th
or 18th century. It is fed by a complicated leat which runs into
the western arm whence the water flows to the extremity of the
eastern arm and by an arrangement of sluice and waterfall is
returned to the brook E of the church. A doubtful antiquity.
The field "Mill Close" is at SP 422301. There is no trace of mill
or a mill enclosure. (4)
The remnant of the moat described above (Sources 3-4) is visible on aerial photographs and mapped as part of the SE Warwickshire and Cotswolds HLS NMP project. The remains of the moat comprise two sides and a corner of ditch, which follows the same course of the likely canalised River Swere which runs through the village. This small river once flowed closer to church according to the Ordnance Survey First Series Map of 1833 (Sheet 45). This alteration may be part of the ornamental landscaping mentioned in Source 4, with the 'partial' moat created at this time. The moat appears to have reduced in length. The Ordnance Survey map (1881) shows the moat extending almost to the west of Manor Farm (SP 42685 30204), but by 1961, the aerial photographs show this is much reduced and on the modern Ordnance Survey Map the moat is reduced to only about 35metres in length. (5-6) |