Hartley Court, Burnham

Description

Hartley Court is a sub-rectangular medieval moated island, covering 0.6 hectares, which is situated within a larger, diamond-shaped enclosure of 3.7 hectares. The island is surrounded by a broad ditch, measuring 5 metres to 7 metres in width and about 1.5 metres in depth, which retains water for much of the year supplied by rainfall and the natural water table. The interior is subdivided by several banks, measuring on average 2.5 metres in width and 0.8 metres high; including a main partition orientated north to south across the middle of the island. A second bank runs parallel to the northern section of the main partition, and the intervening area contains some slight undulations which suggest the position of former structures. This has been suggested as the as the location of the principal dwelling. A range of outbuildings is indicated by three low, square platforms abutting the inner moat bank near the south eastern corner of the island. In the north eastern corner of the moat is a well. The uneven appearance of the ground surface in this location together with the proximity of the well implies the locations of other domestic buildings which are likely to include kitchens, brew and bake houses. The outer enclosure is bounded by a bank and external ditch. The bank averages 3 metres wide and 0.7 metres high and the ditch is generally the same width and about 0.6 metres deep. The boundary earthworks are designed to keep stock, and other animals grazing the surrounding wood pasture out of the enclosure. This would protect cultivated land within the enclosure providing produce for the homestead. (PastScape)

Comments

This is a large moated site for a homestead site, with an occasionally used castle place-name, but there no signs of other fortification, such as curtain walling. The site is associated with a medieval deerpark.