Scheduled Ancient Monument: MOATED SITE 200M WEST OF OTLEY HALL (21321)

The monument includes a moated site located on high ground, 850m north of Otley village. The central island of the moated site is rectangular, with dimensions of 23m east-west by 19m north-south, and its surface is raised approximately 0.5m above the prevailing ground level. It is surrounded by a water-filled moat measuring 10m to 12m in width, without a causeway. On the north and west sides, and around the south-western corner, there is also an external bank measuring 0.6m in height and up to 6m in width, with an outer ditch 1m deep and between 4.5m and 8m in width. The outer ditch is normally dry. An extension of its western arm, projecting northward from the northwestern corner for a distance of approximately 9m, has been filled in, although it survives as a buried feature and is marked by a hollow in the ground surface. The eastern end of the short southern arm of the outer ditch is joined to the adjacent arm of the moat by a short overflow channel, 0.3m deep and 3.5m in width, which issues into a field ditch. The site is on land which formerly appertained to Otley Hall. Its small size and its location suggest that it was constructed to contain a building such as might have been used as a place of retreat from the hall.