Scheduled Ancient Monument: MOATED SITE AND PONDS 180M NORTH WEST OF HILL FARM (21313)

The monument includes a moated site and ponds located on a slight south facing slope on a spur above the north side of the valley of the River Blyth. Three arms of the moat are visible as ditches, partly silted and now dry, which define the north east, north west and south east sides of a sub-rectangular central platform; a fourth arm on the south west side has been filled in, although it survives as a buried feature, marked on the surface by a slight scarp on the line of the inner edge, and by the presence of sedge tussocks growing in the damp soil of the fill. A field boundary, which is shown on older maps, defines the approximate line of the outer edge. The central platform has maximum dimensions of 70m north east-south west by 55m north west-south east, and the moat ditches measure from 7m to 8m in width, the three which remain open varying in depth from 1.8m at the upper, northern end of the site, to 0.8m at the southern end. The moated site thus has overall dimensions of approximately 85m by 70m. A linear pond extends south westwards from the southern angle of the moat, continuing the line of the south eastern arm and issuing into a smaller field ditch at its south western end. It measures approximately 72m in length, 4m to 5m in width and up to 1.8m in depth, with a rectangular, shelving, external projection, measuring approximately 5m by 4m, midway along the east side. Within the moated site, towards the northern end of the central platform, are traces of an internal pond, connected to the north eastern arm of the moat by a channel approximately 18m in length. Both the pond and the channel have become largely infilled, although they survive as buried features. The channel remains visible as a linear depression approximately 1m wide and 0.3m deep, and the pond as a damp hollow up to 0.5m deep, containing a thick growth of sedge and willow herb, and measuring approximately 18m north east-south west by 8m south east-north west. Building materials and fragments of pottery dating from the 13th to the 17th centuries, found on the surface of the interior and in ploughsoil around the outer edge of the moat, demonstrate that the site was occupied during and after the medieval period.