More information : [SU 5576 8803] Mound [G.T.] (1)
To the west of South Moreton churchyard is an earthwork consisting of an irregularly circular mound with a deep ditch excavated nearby all round it. "It lies close to the brook, and seems to have been intended for a small fortification, but as
never completed." (2)
Mound, South Moreton "The brook has been dammed back and the mound dug away towards the brook side to form the present mill dam." Betts, in making this observation offered to supply a sketch of:- "The site of the paved ford, embankments for 50 yards to the west now nearly ploughed away and the raised embankment or causeway before the rectory, which was dug down about 1880" Mound called 'Fossatum Castelli in 1220. (2-4)
This mound, situated in a position commanding an alleged ford, has the appearance of a motte although it is of no great height and, on the west, the ditch is incomplete.
Published Survey (25") revised.
The raised embankment or causeway in front of the rectory, referred to by Betts, has now disappeared. The embankment running for fifty yards to the west exists now as a slight scarp. It does not join the mound but begins and ends on hedges and most probably represents an old field bank. (5)
The remains of a possible Medieval motte centred at SU 5574 8803 with a diameter of 35m was seen as an earthwork. The motte is flanked by a ditch, part of what is thought to be the moat which is visible for almost half of the circuit on the north-eastern side.
These features were mapped from good quality air photographs and the description has been based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database.
(6)
Listed by Cathcart King. (7) |