Medieval moated sites

Most people expect every self-respecting, major stone-built castle to possess a moat and, by and large, most do – although by no means all moats were 'wet' ones filled with water. However, in addition to these great buildings there grew up a whole class of smaller, rural, defended settlements that archaeologists tend to lump together under the general term 'medieval moated sites'.

It has been known for many years that these sites exist, but it was the early 1960s before archaeologists appreciated that they form a distinct class of field monument in their own right. Since then an increasing amount of fieldwork and documentary study, together with the use of aerial photography, has shown that they survive in remarkably large numbers. Well over 5,000 have already been identified in England, and new discoveries are made every year.

Although only a relatively small number have been excavated, it is enough to show a clear consistency in the dating. It seems that most of the sites fall into the period from the very early 13th century to about the mid-14th century. They also show a distinct distribution. While moated sites are known in virtually every corner of England, they appear to cluster in areas where clay soils provided an effective water sealant. The West Midlands, Suffolk and Essex, for example, possess especially large numbers.

The defensive aspect of their construction was probably only a minor consideration, and determined attackers would not have been deterred for long. Rather, it looks as though in many cases the building of a moat was intended for show, as a mark of status within the neighbourhood: the medieval equivalent of a Ferrari parked in the garage. It cannot be coincidence that most moats seem to coincide with land that was owned by manorial lords – men who would not have been in the top rank of secular landowners but who instead expressed their aspirations by aping their far wealthier, castle-building social superiors.

In some areas, however, there may have been another reason why settlements had moats. Archaeologists recently investigated a small group of sites that date from the 13th century and lay on what were then the flat, marshy Avon Levels, west of Bristol. These were probably individual 'colonising' farmsteads, intended to open up and exploit the potentially rich resources to be found in this wetland environment. There would have been a constant danger of inundation and one of the excavators commented that, 'The moats in this ... context are probably intended primarily for drainage rather than defence or status.'

It seems as though the connotations of status in moated sites continued after the medieval period, and many were occupied, although not always continuously, until well into the 17th century, with improvements in the standard of accommodation. For example, at Bassingham in Lincolnshire, a 13th-century moated site with an aisled hall was abandoned in the 15th and 16th centuries, but refurbished in the 17th. The hall was enlarged and a new floor was put down. A map from the mid-17th century shows a big house surrounded by four smaller buildings.

It is this later history that provided the background to Time Team's investigations at High Ercall in the 2002 series, as many surviving and upgraded moated sites were hurriedly refortified at the time of the Civil War. Their eventual fate would have depended largely on the loyalties of their owners during that period. At Islip, in the 2006 series, the team ended up investigating a medieval moated manor on the edge of the village as the search for a 13th-century chapel dedicated to Edward the Confessor proved abortive.

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