Tilts

Description

The size of Tilts moated site suggests it was a medieval manor of some importance. Extensive areas of undisturbed deposits will survive under pasture on the north island, where building foundations and a paved road have already been located, and under the garden on the south island, which has only been minimally disturbed by building. In addition, being largely water-filled, the moat will contain preserved organic and palaeoenvironmental material.
Tilts moated site consists of two roughly rectangular islands divided and surrounded by a water-filled moat, varying between 10 and 15m wide. The north island measures c.100m x 50m and is joined to the southern by a narrow causeway across the central ditch. The south island measures c.75m x 40m and contains the present house, a part of which appears to be 17th century. The south arm of the moat is largely filled in and partially overlain by later buildings. Another section of filled-in moat once linked the central ditch and the west arm of the northern circuit, which itself has been recut and is now represented by a wide waterlogged ditch bordering the lane to the west. Traditionally the monument is thought to have been a monastic site but this has not been substantiated. Certainly, it is likely to have controlled the medieval manorial estate of Tilts. The remains of the earlier manor are believed to underlie the present house and work carried out on the north island in c.1986 revealed large stone blocks thought to be part of the foundations of an ancillary building. Also found was a section of paved road coming in from the north. (Scheduling Report)

Comments

One of a large number of moated sites in this area, the flood plain of the River Don. The moat may have more to do with flood defence rather than domestic security, although this area, Barnsdale Forest, had some notoriety as the place for outlaws.