Walford Moat (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Walford, Letton and Newton.
In the historic county of Herefordshire.
Modern Authority of Herefordshire.
1974 county of Hereford and Worcester.
Medieval County of Herefordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO38307228
Latitude 52.34434° Longitude -2.90749°

Walford Moat has been described as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Comments

SMR dismisses this as it as a spoil bank from the Elan Aqueduct, dumped about 1900. However, the 1884 field boundary is an unusual shape, perhaps reflecting a square feature present when field was enclosed. Also there is a crop mark to the east and north of this feature on the aerial photo. This may just be stock and machine tracks but could also be a moderately broad moat. There is also the question of why spoil was dumped here when just the other side of the fence is a virtually identical bit of field which was much nearer the road (something about this bit of the field made it less suitable for agriculture). Finally the site is typical of many C13 /C14 moated manorial sites in that is somewhat isolated from the village of Walford and the original castle. Because of SMR record must be doubtful but not possible to entirely reject.
Not in Shoesmith's 2009 revised edition of his book, presumably because he accepts this as solely a spoil bank.

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 9968.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2000, Castles of Herefordshire and Worcestershire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 66
  Shoesmith, Ron, 1996, Castles and Moated Sites of Herefordshire (Logaston Press)

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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.

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Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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