Wadgell's Farm, Great Thurlow (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Great Thurlow.
In the historic county of Suffolk.
Modern Authority of Suffolk.
1974 county of Suffolk.
Medieval County of Suffolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL704513
Latitude 52.13522° Longitude 0.48912°

Wadgell's Farm, Great Thurlow has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

VCH record of a 'moated enclosure with stronger defensive works (Class G)' At Wadgell's Farm, north of Sawley Green and east of Little Thurlow, 4 miles north-north-east from Haverhill, are fragments of a once large and strongly fortified moat. Outside the eastern part of the moat are the remains of an earthen bank which gradually decreases towards the north until it is totally lost. (VCH)

The earthworks (shown on OS 25") of the outer moat at Wadgell's Farm were destroyed about five years ago. Only a pond in the NW angle remains, elsewhere the course of the outer moat is marked by disturbed ground. The farmhouse (prob 16th century but not outstanding) is built on a raised platform c 1.0m high and is surrounded by low ground which was once moated according to the farmer. The course of this supposed moat, extant to the north, east and south sides is marked by a low depression 1.0m deep, but on the west side farm buildings have destroyed its course. (PastScape –ref. Field Investigators Comments-F1 PAS 07-JAN-76)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 379595.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) TUG 002.

Books
- Wall, 1911, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Suffolk Vol. 1 p. 620 online copy

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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.

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