Monument record 0017800000 - 650M S OF BEACHENDON FARM

Plan Form - RECTANGULAR
WELL-DEFINED MOAT. ISLAND HAS SIDES C.130FT LONG. MOAT, THOUGH SILTED UP & SHALLOW, IS WIDE. PROBABLY FED BY THE THAME, A FEW YARDS DISTANT. OWING TO FLOODS IT MUST HAVE BEEN A DANGEROUS SITE (B1-2).
EXISTENCE CONFIRMED. UNDER GRASS & WELL PRESERVED. SINGLE DITCH WITH RECTANGULAR ISLAND (B3). SCHEDULED (B4).
Photographs (B5).

A medieval moated site and ridge and furrow cultivation block 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). It is located in a field some 200 metres from the River Thame and about 640 metres S from Beachendon Farm, centred at SP 475942 212961. A slightly subrectangular ditch that varies between 9 and 12 metres wide has a linear SW facing side 78 metres long aligned NW-SE, a linear SE facing side about 63 metres long aligned SW-NE, a linear NE facing side about 68 metres long aligned NW-SE and a linear NW facing side about 60 metres long aligned WSW-ENE. The moat ditch encloses an island with an internal area about 53 x 44 metres at its widest. Around the interior of the ditch is an earthwork bank that varies between 2.5 and 6 metres wide. On the outside of the moat ditch there are sections of earthwork bank varying between 5 and 9 metres wide outer bank on the NW and SW facing sides. A narrow curving ditch extends S for 26 metres from the SW corner of the moat, possibly where it originally linked to the River Thame. To the NW and NE of the moat earthworks are blocks of medieval ridge and furrow cultivation, as well as a small block of ridge and furrow cultivation immediately SE of the moat. On aerial photographs taken in 2023 and recent remote sensing data, the earthworks remain extant (6-11).