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Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument () 20532: A moated site 100m East of St Mary Magdalene's church
• Conservation Area: Thirsk and Sowerby Conservation Area

Monument Type(s):

• MOAT (Medieval to Modern - 1066 AD to 2050 AD)

Associated Finds

• VESSEL (Unknown date)
• FLAKE (Prehistoric - 500000 BC to 42 AD)

Other References/Statuses

• AMIE Reference / HOB UID: 55620
• National Monuments Record: SE48SW14
• Old Sites & Monuments Record Number: 150.01

Full description

A moated platform with a well defined causeway crossing its NE arm. No internal features are visible and a circular flat mound at the NW corner may be no more than upcast from the moat. A Mr Sharphouse of Thirsk RDC is supposed to have excavated here. Excavated by: SHA (05/1966), CCA (10/1993) Form: Extant Structure (06/1962) (1).

Site was evaluated in 1993; Finds included a George V halfpenny, a copper alloy strip (part of a buckle?) and two pieces of medieval pottery. A rectangular flagged surface including brick and architectural fragments as well as a circular stone 61cm in diameter and 9cm thick resembling a quern stone without a hole was also encountered (2)(3)(4).

Mapping is based on vector mapping of earthworks and field parcel.(Source for this comment mislaid SNY6888 quoted in error and removed)

THIRSK, MILLGATE (SE 429 823). The small moated site at Millgate, Thirsk, was surveyed on behalf of Hambleton District Council, and trial excavations were opened in advance of a proposed extension to the neighbouring car park. Contour and resistivity surveys were carried out by GeoQuest Associates. Trial excavation and augering, by Pip Robinson for Cleveland County Archaeology Section, found 13th-century or later pottery mixed with modern material in the area of the proposed car park. The moat has a raised platform, and a detached mound, both of which appear to be made up of material excavated from the moat (5).

A leaflet was produced with informatio on a guided walk to 15 historic sites in Thirsk and Sowerby. (6)

<1> Ordnance Survey, Various, Ordnance Survey Record Card, SE48SW14 (Card Index). SNY1.

<2> Geoquest Associates, 10/11/1993, Topographic and Geophysical Survey of a Moated Site at Millgate, Thirsk (Report). SNY1376.

<3> Cleveland County Archaeology Section, 10/1993, Archaeological Evaluation, Millgate Moated Site, Thirsk (Report). SNY785.

<4> North Yorkshire County Council, 2002, NYCC Archive Collection Database, Fond ID 25 (Database File). SNY6991.

<5> Medieval Archaeology, 1994, Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1993 (Serial). SNY21641.

<6> Signs, Plaques and Interpretation Boards Working Party, 2009?, Thirsk Sowerby Past and Present (Leaflet). SNY15400.

Sources and further reading

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