Falstoff's Moat (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Falstoff's Wood; Kimberley Hall

In the civil parish of Kimberley.
In the historic county of Norfolk.
Modern Authority of Norfolk.
1974 county of Norfolk.
Medieval County of Norfolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TG08410374
Latitude 52.59196° Longitude 1.07638°

Falstoff's Moat has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Well defined moat with not totally convincing entrance in north corner on northwest arm, but no other surface evidence of entrance onto 38m x 25m interior platform. Slightly narrower northeast arm is V-shaped with southward flow of water, possibly due to drainage from arable land to northwest.
Exterior spoil bank flanks the western corner, extending along northwest arm, southwest and southeast arms also, less distinct on southeast. Southwest arm cut by inlet leat, a gently sinuous natural looking watercourse with a banked and ditched enclosure to its north, possibly contemporary with the moat. The outlet leat is in east corner, truncated by present stream, but a shallow damp channel exists to east and is the probable original natural route. One sherd (bowl rim) of unglazed early medieval pottery found in moat southwest arm. Northwest of moat a bank heads towards the woodland boundary centrally from the moat arm, with a small pond-like depression to its west. (Norfolk HER–ref. B. Cushion site visit 1998)
Believed to be the site of a manor house which was abandoned in 1400, when Sir John Wodehouse built a much grander house about 900m to the north west (NHER 8918). (Norfolk HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1020855, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 30621
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 130577.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 8927.

Books
- White, 1864, History of Norfolk p. 584
  Blomefield, F., 1805, 'Hundred of South Erpingham: Blickling' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 2 p. 535-9 (tenurial history) online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Cozens-Hardy, B., 1961, 'Some Norfolk Halls' Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 32 p. 190

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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.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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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