Scheduled Ancient Monument: MOATED SITE AND SITE OF ST NICHOLAS' CHURCH IMMEDIATELY EAST OF CHURCH FARM (21450)

The monument is situated immediately to the north east of the site of St Nicholas Green, and includes the moated site of what was probably a medieval rectory and the adjoining site of a medieval churchyard containing the buried remains of St Nicholas' church. The moated site, which is rectangular in plan and has overall dimensions of approximately 55m north east-south west by 43m, is aligned parallel to, and set about 20m back from a minor road along what was formerly the north side of the green. It is terraced into a slight, south facing slope, so that the surface of the interior of the enclosure is lower than the ground level to the north of the moat. The moat which encloses the central platform on the north, west and south sides is for the most part water-filled and ranges in width from approximately 6m to 12m lip to lip, the southern arm being the widest. The eastern arm has been infilled and survives chiefly as a buried feature, marked on the surface by a linear depression approximately 8m wide and 0.5m deep in the ground surface. Access to the interior is provided by a level causeway approximately 9m wide across the eastern end of the southern arm. Maps of the site made in the first half of the 19th century show that a house once stood at the eastern end of the enclosure, opposite the causeway, and evidence for this building will survive below the ground surface although nothing remains visible above. St Nicholas' church stood immediately to the east of the moated site. The earliest documentary reference to a church here is in the Domesday survey of 1086, and later records show that it was in use until at least the mid-16th century, when the living was joined with that of All Saints (the church of All Saints is situated some 725m to the east). The two parishes were finally consolidated in 1737. The building is said to have been in a state of decay by around 1620, and most of it was demolished in the mid-18th century. One wall remained standing in 1844 and, although nothing of it is now visible, demolition rubble has been recorded on the site and foundations are believed to survive below the ground surface. The location of what is understood to have been the west end of the church is marked by a stone cross which was erected during the 19th century and is included in the scheduling. The remains of the church lie within a plot measuring approximately 63m south west-north east by 43m and formerly known as Church Meadow, the boundaries of which are believed to correspond to the curtilage of the medieval churchyard. The ground surface within this area is raised approximately 0.5m above the level of the road to the south, and human remains are said to have been unearthed here during drainage works in the 19th or early 20th century. Railings protecting the stone cross, a stand pipe to the west of the moated site, and all modern fences and gates are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.