Monument record 0052503000 - MOAT FARM

Dimensions - Length 0370 m Width 0280
Plan Form - OVOID
AP SHOWS EARTHWORK SITUATED ON LOW PLATEAU; LARGE HOMESTEAD MOAT PERHAPS REUSING IRON AGE PLATEAU CAMP. LARGELY DESTROYED BY M40 & GRAVEL WORKINGS, THOUGH NE PART STILL WATERFILLED (B12-14). SECTION THROUGH DRY MOAT SHOWED PROFILE & INFILLING. MEDIEVAL, NOT IA, BUT NO PRE-C16 FINDS (SEE REPORT)(B10-18).




SU976883. Earthwork to the W of Moat Farm is visible on AP (B25).

A fragment of homestead moat at Moat Farm (B12).

Centred at SU976 882 the above AP shows an ovoid banked earthwork overall c 370.0m E-W by c 280.0m N-S and enclosing an area of c 8.0 hectares. The whole takes advantage of a 300 ft OD plateau in an otherwise level area.
The work has been largely destroyed by ballast extraction on the N & W sides and by the M40 motorway to the S. Only two much denuded bank and outer ditch portions survive under rough pasture at SU97708837 and SU9779 8815. At both points the bank stands c 0.5m high with the ditch, more visible as a vegetation mark, c 0.1m deep.
The estimated distance from inner bank to outer ditch is c 18.0m. The shape of the pond on the N side of Moat Farm suggest it originally utilised the line of the ditch, and is not a homestead moat.
Moat Farm house appears a c 19c structure, and there is no information of an earlier house on the site. No finds were made or have been reported from this area, although Ro pottery kilns were found nearby. (See SU 98 NE 1, 13 and 22)

This is a probable defence work and may be an IA Plateau Fort [Former interpretation].
Surveyed at 1:2500. (4)