Little Hadham, North of Hadham Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Little Hadham.
In the historic county of Hertfordshire.
Modern Authority of Hertfordshire.
1974 county of Hertfordshire.
Medieval County of Hertfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL45342315
Latitude 51.88809° Longitude 0.11049°

Little Hadham, North of Hadham Hall has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Circular moated mound c22.25m in diameter overall; mound rising c3.5m above water level. Moat ditch c7m wide with causeway on the SE side. Possible mill mound or ornamental feature. Informal excavation revealed that the original feature was shallow. (Herts HER)

"Moated Tumulus, N of Hadham Hall; condition - fairly good" (RCHME).
Situated on flat terrain, this artificial earthen mound, tree planted, is surrounded by a shallow, largely waterfilled ditch. Measuring c23.0m in overall diameter, the mound has a flat top c 6.5m in diameter and is c.25m in height. The ditch averages c7.0m in width, and has an eathen 'causeway' across it on the SE side.
The shallow moat-like ditch (if contemporary with the mound) was evidently constructed to contain water and is not defensive. The Headmaster of nearby Hadham Hall school, Mr E J Douglas, did an informal excavation of a small area of ditch some years ago. Although no finds were made, the dig proved that the ditch was originally shallow and that little silting had occurred.
The most probable explanation of this feature is that it is a moated mill-mound, or an ornamental landscape feature connected with nearby Hadham Hall (F1 JRL 20-JUN-73). (PastScape)

Moated mound to NE. of house of 1440, rebuilt 1572/8. (Renn)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1005257, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number ht21
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 370355.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 45.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of The Thames Valley and The Chilterns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 43
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 220
  Renn, D.F., 1971, Medieval Castles in Hertfordshire (Chichester: Phillimore) p. 16
  RCHME, 1910, An inventory of the historical monuments in Hertfordshire (London: HMSO) p. 146 no. 11 online transcription

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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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