Great Moat Farm (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Chirbury With Brompton.
In the historic county of Shropshire.
Modern Authority of Shropshire.
1974 county of Shropshire.
Medieval County of Shropshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO24799688
Latitude 52.56453° Longitude -3.11096°

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

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

A rectangular defence of a medieval fortified house; possibly the manor house of Timberth, which was a member of Chirbury, and held of the castle of Montgomery by the tenure of castle guard (Clark 1877).
Moated site, situated in an elevated position at the W end of a small ridge. The land falls away from it on all sides, but most steeply to the N. The site is almost completely destroyed, the only surviving portions being parts of the NE and NW arms of the moat, the rest having been destroyed by Great Moat Farm (SA 22556) and its outbuildings. Only the outer scarp of the NE arm remains, being 0.8m in height and c 35m in length. At its N end where it once formed an angle with the NW arm it has been cut through and destroyed by a farm trackway. the surviving fragment of the NW arm shows only as a very shallow marshy depression, having been partially backfilled. It is c 37m in length. There is no trace of any moat on the SW and SE sides. The whole site is very poor and in a bad state of preservation (M Watson 1980 - Shrop SMR field report). (Shropshire HER)

Comments

One of a number of small manors, in reality little more than farmsteads, in the area held by tenants who owed military service, usually a fraction of a knight fee (suggesting tenants of sergeant status rather than knights). Many of these manors are marked with small mottes. There is nothing to suggest this damaged site had a motte, although that can not be excluded, the small moat may have served a similar function of marking the military status of the tenant. However, the status of the site makes this a 'homestead moat' rather than a fortified manor house.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1175149
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 105569.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 01857.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust, Bro Trefaldwyn Historic Landscape
Books
- Eyton, R.W., 1860, Antiquities of Shropshire (London: John Russell Smith) Vol. 11 p. 68-9 (tenurial history) online copy
Periodical Articles
- 1980, Moated Sites Research Group report Vol. 7 p. 50
  Clark, G.T., 1877, 'The moated mounds of the upper Severn' Montgomeryshire Collections Vol. 10 p. 337 online copy

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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.
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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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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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