Willow Garth Ecclesfield (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Ecclesfield.
In the historic county of Yorkshire.
Modern Authority of Sheffield.
1974 county of South Yorkshire.
Medieval County of Yorkshire West Riding.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK35399441
Latitude 53.44534° Longitude -1.46856°

Willow Garth Ecclesfield has been described as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The Willow Garth site has a water-filled moat in which organic material is likely to survive. It has never been excavated and undisturbed deposits survive on the island where building foundations and other evidence of medieval activity will be well-preserved.
Willow Garth moated site consists of a small rectangular island, measuring 25m x 20m, surrounded by a water-filled moat. Except on the south-west side, where it is narrower and partly filled in, the moat is c.10m wide and is embanked along its outside edge on all but the south-west arm. Several stone blocks indicative of wall-footings are visible on this side. On the south- east side, a small bay protrudes into the adjacent field. This is the site of a now filled-in channel leading to a terrace in the natural slope identified as an embanked fishpond, measuring c.40m x 15m and now also filled in. To the north of this, a narrow ditch runs eastward off the moat. Although in its present form a post-medieval feature, this is likely to have been recut from an earlier channel. Excluded from the scheduling are sections of modern fencing and hedging though the ground underneath is included. The site lies a few hundred metres from that of a priory which is now built over and not part of this scheduling. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1012477, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 13223
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 314801.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00170/01.

Books
- Sneyd, Steve, 1995, The Devil's Logbook Castles and Fortified Sites around South Yorkshire (Hilltop Press) p. 11
Periodical Articles
- 1914-18, Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society Vol. 1 p. 363
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk Yorkshire Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 75 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk Yorkshire Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 85 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 Yorkshire (London: English Heritage) p. 95 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 Yorkshire (London: English Heritage) p. 100 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 120 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 112 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 116 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 Yorkshire and the Humber (London: English Heritage) p. 119 online copy

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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