Monument record 0018002000 - NW OF ASTON MULLINS FARM

Dimensions - Radius 60m.
Plan Form - Subcircular.
Sub-circular, waterfilled homestead moat has average overall diameter of 120m, moat arms being 8-10m in width. To S, moat is set into slight hill slope upon which it is situated, whilst around N side is a broad retaining bank, 12m wide, 1.5m high. Water was fed in from E side via a short right-angled projection off main moat & escaped to river from NW side. Interior under permanent pasture & no trace of building to be seen (B6).
Large moat well preserved with small causeway, stone revetted & still holds water. Moat enclosed by bank on N/NE side for ?flood protection and/or possibly controlling water level in moat - there is a sluice on bank. Original Aston Mullins farm stood on site, the present Aston Mullins being built within living memory (B7)

A moated site of medieval date is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as extant earthworks and levelled earthworks and were mapped as part of the Aylesbury Vale Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18604). Located approximately 800m north west of Aston Mullins House, Dinton-with-Ford and Upton, and centred at SP 476267 208557. The moated site is on the south side of the Cuttle Brook, which was likely the source of the water supply for the moat, and has further earthworks of shrunken settlement and ridge and furrow field systems surrounding it. The moat is almost hexagonal and measures 98x120m across with a water channel joining from the Cuttle Brook on the east and leaving on the north side to return straight in to the brook and another on the western side also to return to the brook, via the second moat/subrectangular fishpond to the west. The moat has another water channel extending to the south which has been incorporated in to later field boundaries and drainage ditches. The interior platform of the moat measures 64m across and no clear features can be seen on the lidar visualisation. Buildings are shown at this location on the Ordnance Surveyors’ Drawing of Aylesbury and earthworks to the south of the moat could be the remains of further buildings shown on the same map. None of these are present by the time of the Epoch 1 map. The earthworks were not clear enough to map individual features on the moat; modern land use is pasture. (9-)



(SP 7630 0875) Moat (NR) (B23)
A large almost circular moat with a strong retaining wall on the North. Immediately to the W are the remains of another moat. (Shown but not described on OS 6" at SP 7613 0875) (B2).

A sub-circular, waterfilled, homestead moat, centred at SP 7630 0875, has an average overall diameter of 120.0m, the moat arms being 8.0 to 10.0m in width. To the S the moat is set into the slight hill slope upon which it is situated, whilst around the N side is a broad retaining bank, 12.0m wide, 1.5m in height. Water was fed in from the E side via a short right-angled projection off the main moat and escaped to the river from the NW side.
The interior is under permanent pasture and no trace of building is to be seen.
100.0m to the W, at SP 7612 0875 is a small moated rectangular enclosure, 45.0m by 30.0m. The NE and SE arms are waterfilled and are separated by remains of an original (? formerly causewayed) entrance. The NW and SW arms are indicated by marshy depressions. Water was fed from the stream at the N corner. There is a small retaining bank against the NE arm of the moat. The feature may have been an unusual form of fishponds.
Published 1:2500 survey revised (B24)

A rapid examination of air photography (b26) shows earthworks of possible enclosures on the outer, southeast side of the larger moat. There are also other possible earthworks between the moat and the fish ponds (?). (B25).

NRHE Insert 1998, update 2011 (B22).

This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 4 June 2025 licensed under the Open Government Licence.