Blithewood Moat, Checkley (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Checkley.
In the historic county of Staffordshire.
Modern Authority of Staffordshire.
1974 county of Staffordshire.
Medieval County of Staffordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ99013615
Latitude 52.92562° Longitude -2.01541°

Blithewood Moat, Checkley has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The monument includes a well preserved double moated site with an additional moated arm on the E side. The site includes a raised grassy island measuring c.52m x 48m surrounded by a wet inner moat c.10m wide x 4.5m max. depth, beyond which is a flat-topped intermediate bank c.9m wide on the W side and 18m wide on the E. A wet outer moat c.10m wide x 4m max. depth surrounds these features. A dry channel issues from the SE corner of the inner moat and, cutting into the intermediate bank, connects with the outer moat. On the E side two external banks are separated by a waterlogged third moated arm c.7m wide which runs the full length of the monument. External banks also exist on the S, W and N sides, the former measuring c.8m wide x 0.5m high being the most prominent. The monument at Blithewood is largely undisturbed; however, a small excavation in 1846 found chain armour and medieval leather shoes. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1011883, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 13467
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 77565.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00182.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 1997, Castles and Moated Mansions of Staffordshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 63
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 453
  Lynam, Charles, 1908, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm. (ed), VCH Staffordshire Vol. 1 p. 360 (plan - homestead moat) online copy
  Redfern, F., 1886, A History of Uttoxeter p. 87
Periodical Articles
- 1984, Moated Sites Research Group report Vol. 11 p
  Lynam, C., 1913-4, North Staffordshire Field Club transactions Vol. 48 p. 197-8

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

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