Monument record 0024800000 - HAWRIDGE COURT FARM

Dimensions - Length 60m, Width 50m.
Plan Form - Oval.
DEFENCES CONSIST OF SINGLE RAMPART & OUTER DITCH: RAMPART 5M HIGH, 16M WIDE, DITCH 1M DEEP, 14M WIDE: SW PART WET. BREAKS IN RAMPART WITH CAUSEWAYS ON E AND S & ON N WHERE FARMHOUSE (01:001) STANDS (THIS HAS DESTROYED PART OF THE EARTHWORK)(B1-6,B15).
DYER THINKS IT IS DANISH, BUT NO EVIDENCE (B7).
SCHEDULED SAM 27155 (B9).
Excavation failed to find any early features associated with the construction of the ringwork. Earliest evidence was a remnant soil horizon of late medieval date. Possible ditch or pit was exposed but was not investigated. Suggestion that cut features of medieval date may survive beneath post-medieval layers (B11).
Watching brief carried out by Northants Archaeology in February and March 2006 identified an undated buried soil horizon (B12).
Desk-based assessment carried out by John Moore Heritage Services in 2011 concluded that the monument was in a good state of preservation. The listed building was subject to detailed appraisal which identified a number of recognisable phases, some of which can be sub-divided (B13).
A watching brief by John Moore Heritage Services during groundworks for a new porch in July 2012 identified the possible truncated remains of the earthwork bank and an overlying undated buried soil horizon, surviving beneath 0.6m of post-medieval dumped deposits. See report for detail (B14).



Hawridge Court, a moated manor-house occupied as a farmhouse. About 1780 some square stones and human bones were dug up when enlarging the garden and a few years later an iron casement was found in the area within the moat (B1).
Homestead moat comprising a single rampart and ditch but very strong in comparison with the small area enclosed (B4).
Hawridge Court Farm. SP 950058 listed as a large ringwork (B5)
This is an oval ringwork internally some 60.0m NE-SW by 50.0m transversely, situated on a broad ridge within the garden of Hawridge Court. It is bounded by a rampart with an average height of 2.0m and outer ditch of similar size which, apart from some surface water on the NW, is dry. A difference of 2.0m in base level of the ditch from E to W precludes it from ever having been waterfilled. The interior and exterior ground levels are similar, a gap and causeway through the defences in the E probably representing an original entrance. Hawridge Court, 17th century construction but not outstanding, occupies the N side of the ringwork. No recent finds have been made in the area. Published 1:2500 survey revised (B16).