Monument record 0040802000 - SW OF BIERTON CHURCH

Dimensions - Length 50m, Width 38m.
Plan Form - Rectangular.
DRY HOMESTEAD MOAT(B4).
SPRING FED, PART-WATERFILLED HOMESTEAD MOAT ON GENTLE S FACING SLOPE. SOME BUILDING DEBRIS IN CENTRE. AVERAGE WIDTH OF ARMS 10M, DEPTH FROM 2.8M ON HIGHER N SIDE TO 1M S SIDE (B7).
SURVEY OF MOAT. CENTRAL MOUND POSS BUILT UP WITH MATERIAL FROM MOAT. RATHER SMALL FOR A HOUSE (B8).
SCHEDULED: SAM 32102 (B9).

A medieval moat and adjacent probable fishpond is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as earthworks and was mapped as part of the Aylesbury Vale Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18604). Located in a field behind houses S of the A418 road about 175 metres SW of St James Church and centred at SP 83525 15121, a rectangular ditch that varies from 6.5 metres up to 11.5 metres wide encloses an internal platform of 31.5 metres SW-NE x 19 metres NW-SE. On the SW and NE outward facing sides of the moat ditch are earthwork banks. Immediately on the SE facing side of the moat ditch is a rectilinear ditch about 65 metres SW-NE and 12 metres NW-SE that may have been a fishpond. On aerial photographs taken in 2023 the moat remains under historic tree canopy cover and is obscured, but recent remote sensing data suggest that the moat remains intact, though the fishpond that was clearly visible in 1943 has been somewhat degraded (10-12).