Scheduled Ancient Monument: MOATED SITE AT ABBEY FARM (30526)

The monument includes a moated site situated approximately 350m north west of St Botolph's Church on level ground to the north of the valley of the River Fynn. The moat, which is silted but seasonally wet, ranges from approximately 6m to 14m in width and surrounds a sub-rectangular central island with maximum dimensions of approximately 92m north-south by 65m east-west. A causeway approximately 5m wide across the middle of the western arm gives access to the interior. Abbey Farmhouse, dated in part to the 17th century and Listed Grade II, stands in the south western quadrant of the island and is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath is included. The manor to which the moated site relates was held in the 13th century by the de Valoines family and in 1280 was given by William de Valoines, with the parish church, to Leiston Abbey. From that time until the Dissolution of the monasteries it formed part of the Abbey estates, and after the Dissolution was granted by the Crown, firstly to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and brother-in-law of King Henry VII, and then to Thomas Bacon of Hessett. Abbey Farmhouse, the garage and other associated outbuildings and structures, including a coal bunker and the supports for an oil tank are excluded from the scheduling, together with all garden walls and paving, modern fences and gates, driveway and path surfaces, inspection chambers, and a lamp post and service pole adjacent to the drive, although the ground beneath all these features is included.