More information : [TQ 9115 6400] Moat [NR] (1)
Low banks extend from the church at Sittingbourne to Bayford Court which is surrounded by a moat, three sides of which remain. [See plan AO/LP/62/150.] Bayford Court may be the fortress which the Danish army built at Middleton in 893. Castle Rough (TQ 96 NW 10) is usually said to be the site of the work, but its form is against this view, and it would seem probable that the lines of work about Bayford Court are more likely to have sheltered Hasten's men. (2)
The moat at Bayford Court is as described by Gould, water-filled but in poor condition. The enclosed area, now a kitchen garden, is full of building debris including flint and ragstone. The low banks shown by Gould are practically destroyed but do not appear to have been of any importance. The present Bayford Court is circa 1700 and later in external appearance but there is half-timbered work internally. O.S. published 1:1250 correct.(3)
[TQ 911 640] Bayford Court, listed in the county checklist for moated sites in Kent - December 1979. (4)
Bayford Court moated house may be identical with Bayford "Castle" (seeTQ 96 SW 42). (5)
Listed by Cathcart King as the site of an earlier castle documented in the late 12th century. (6) |