Buckland moat

Description

Fragment of a circular homestead moat, SW of the church. Visible on APs. OS field visit of 1973 records the moat as infilled, 'its course being defined by a darker growth of grass within a pasture field' Filled in 20 or more years ago. At the time of the visit, there was a circular area in the field where the grass did not protrude through the snow. 1st edition OS maps, and APs taken in 1947, show a large and almost perfectly circular feature (labelled 'track of moat' on the 1878 map), with a wide entrance to the NW, at this location. All the photographs show a substantial internal feature, and two appear to show further earthworks adjacent and to the north. This site has been interpreted as a homestead moat since the early 20C, but these earthworks suggest a more complex site, and possibly a defensive site, such as a small motte and bailey, or ringwork. Approximately 20m to the east/north east, alongside the road, is an extant waterfilled roadside pond, which OS mapping and photographic evidence suggests may be the slight remains of a moat (Hertfordshire HER)

Comments

Located in village by church and certainly seems higher status than a 'homestead moat'. Held for a knights fee service at Tonge Castle. Although a relatively small manor sub-tenanted manor there was a market here and the location on Ermine Street must have been good for trade. Members of the Buckland family held royal positions in the C13. The history and status of the manor and family are certainly consistent with a fortified manor house in the C13 and could have been a small timber castle in the early C12 or even earlier (the place-name Buckland Bury may be suggestive of a thegnal burh). Whether this was a castle or just a manorial complex is a question worth investigation although that question itself may suggest a false differentiation between castle and manor house.