Monument record 0296102000 - E OF OLD VICARAGE

MANOR HOUSE WAS A LARGE BUILDING NEAR THE CHURCH, GOING TO DECAY (B1).
LARGE HOUSE PLATFORM AT NGR MAY BE SITE, BUT IS VERY CLOSE TO C15 VICARAGE, POSSIBLY ONCE MUCH LARGER? (B2).
VICARAGE IS ALIGNED WITH & SITS ON 'PLATFORM', WHICH IS DEFINED BY A DITCH (B3).
The 'large house platform' noted on earlier visits is more than just a house platform; it is a large rectangular enclosure with well-defined ditch and clear traces of an internal bank along the southern side, with a well-defined return to the NE and then back towards the NW. It looks as if The Old Vicarage would sit within it. A banked and ditched enclosure seems a little grandiose for a vicarage and there is a possibility that the vicarage itself, or the site, could have started life as a manor house (B4-5).
Possibility that the building was originally a manor house suggested by Browne Willis: 'The Manor House as I have been informed was a large building near the Church but was going to decay, The Wenman family took up their habitation at a place called The Lodge, from its being situate no doubt in the Park.' (B6).
Earthwork survey and evaluation trial trenching carried out by John Moore Heritage Services in April 2013 identified the remains of the manorial enclosure ditches and bank with evidence for some internal postholes and pits, possibly representing a building or fencing. Medieval pottery and tile recovered suggest that the enclosure was in use from the 11th to the 12th century and appears to have been abandoned in the late 12th or 13th century. See report for detail (B7).