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HHER Number:1940
Type of record:Monument
Name:CIRCULAR EARTHWORK, SOUTH OF CHURCH, BUCKLAND

Summary - not yet available

Grid Reference:TL 357 337
Map Sheet:TL33SE
Parish:Buckland
Map:Show location on GoogleMaps

Monument Types

  • EARTHWORK (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1500 AD)
  • ENCLOSURE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1500 AD)
  • MOAT? (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1500 AD)
  • MOTTE? (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1500 AD)

Protected Status

  • SHINE: Medieval Circular Moat, now infilled, Southwest of the Church of St Andrews, Buckland
  • Area of Archaeological Significance

Full description

Fragment of a circular homestead moat, SW of the church. Visible on APs. OS field visit of 1973 records the moat as infilled, 'its course being defined by a darker growth of grass within a pasture field' <2>.
Filled in 20 or more years ago. At the time of the visit, there was a circular area in the field where the grass did not protrude through the snow <1>.
Ist edition OS maps, and APs taken in 1947, show a large and almost perfectly circular feature (labelled 'track of moat' on the 1878 map), with a wide entrance to the NW, at this location. All the photographs show a substantial internal feature, and two (PNO 3678-9) appear to show further earthworks adjacent and to the north.
This site has been interpreted as a homestead moat since the early 20C <3>, but these earthworks suggest a more complex site, and possibly a defensive site, such as a small motte and bailey, or ringwork.
Approximately 20m to the east/north east, alongside the road, is an extant waterfilled roadside pond, which OS mapping and photographic evidence suggests may be the slight remains of a moat; see [12355].

Sources and further reading

---Aerial Photograph: RAF. Linear earthworks, Buckland. PNO 3572
---Aerial Photograph: RAF. Circular earthwork, Buckland. PNO 3573
---Aerial Photograph: RAF. Moated site and linear cropmarks, Buckland. PNO 3574
---Aerial Photograph: RAF. Circular moated site, Buckland. PNO 3678
---Aerial Photograph: RAF. Circular moated site, Buckland. PNO 3679
---Cartographic material: OS 25 inch plan, 1st edition. 1878
<1>Unpublished document: Cave-Penny, Helena (HCC) site report.
<2>Index: OS Records.
<3>Bibliographic reference: RCHM 1910. - p74