Kershope moat (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Kershopefoot; Kirsopfoote; Kisopfote

In the civil parish of Nicholforest.
In the historic county of Cumberland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Cumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY47868254
Latitude 55.13468° Longitude -2.81906°

Kershope moat has been described as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a probable Bastle.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

A homestead moat situated on level ground in a field of rough pasture. The uneven though featureless interior is 15m square and stands up to 0.7m above the surrounding land. The clear-cut and dry arms average 6.0m wide and 1.3m deep with low external counterscarp banks on all but the northeast side; there is no entrance causeway. Remnants of a feed arm extend from the east angle in the direction of boggy ground. Roughly parallel with the northeast and northwest arms is a probable contemporary outwork comprising a 4.0m wide and 1.0m deep dry ditch with upcast bank on both sides. (PastScape–ref. Field Investigators Comments–F1 JRL 22-AUG-79)

Comments

This is presumed by King to be site of Kershope tower shown on 1590 map as 'Kirsopfoote' and 1607 platt as 'Kisopfote'. This sort of homestead moat is normally excluded from lists of fortified site (including the Gatehouse website). The form of the house within the moat is not known but may have been a form of bastle.
The suggestion is that the 'towers' marked on the crude maps of the late C16, many of which have no visible remains, were, certainly in part, modest sites and the amount of fortification on the border has been exaggerated. However most or all of these sites were the homes of people who had horses and firearms and who were recorded on muster lists, many were also reivers.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 11706; 11703.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1; 2.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 231
  Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 98 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 93
  Jeffrey, A., 1864, History and Antiquities of Roxburghshire Vol. 4 p. 232 (facsimile of map) online copy
Periodical Articles
- Graham, T.H.B., 1914, 'The Debatable Land Part II' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 14 facing p. 148 online copy online copy of 1607 platt online copy of 1552 map
  Ellis, H., 1829, 'Copy of a manuscript tract addressed to Lord Burghley, illustrative of the Border topography of Scotland, AD 1590, with a platt or map of the Borders taken in the same year' Archaeologia Vol. 22 p. 161-71 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1590, A Platt of the opposete Borders of Scotland to ye west marches of England (The Aglionby Platt) British Library online Gallery and Old Cumbria Gazetteer (see also Gatehouse Essay 'The Aglionby Platt')
  1607, Platt of the Forrest of Nicholl and the Mannor of Liddale, Arthurett and Randelinton with the Debatable groundes online copy (kirsopfote)

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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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