Southoe Town Orchard

Has been described as a Questionable Timber Castle (Other/Unknown)

There are earthwork remains

NameSouthoe Town Orchard
Alternative NamesSouthhoe
Historic CountryHuntingdonshire
Modern AuthorityCambridgeshire
1974 AuthorityCambridgeshire
Civil ParishSouthoe And Midloe

"To the east of the Rectory is a homestead moat which probably marks the site of the house....where John de Lovetot was born in 1298. The house was said to be in ruin in 1350 and probably was not rebuilt....." (VCH).

A water-filled homestead moat,in good condition except for the north arm which is dry (F1 FGA 20-MAY-68). (PastScape)

ring-work south-west of the church excavated in 1942. The excavation produced pottery from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, together with ornamented bronze strip strip, tweezers, arrow-heads and schist hones. (Renn 1973)

Gatehouse Comments

Listed Called Homestead Moat, site of C13 house, in PastScape. The pottery finds here are C13 and C14 and well may be successor to Manor Farm, as suggested by Renn in 1959, but it is doubtful if the fortifications here were anything other the normal for a homestead moat and the inclusion by Renn in his Norman Castles and his description of this as a 'ring-work' is misleading.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceTL183646
Latitude52.2673187255859
Longitude-0.268159985542297
Eastings518300
Northings264600
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 314-15
  • RCHME, 1926, An inventory of the historical monuments in Huntingdonshire p. 241 no. 2 online transcription
  • Inskip Ladds, S., 1926, in Page, Wm and Proby, Granville (eds), VCH Huntingdonshire Vol. 1 p. 304

Journals

  • Renn, D.F., 1959, 'Mottes: a classification' Antiquity Vol. 33 p. 106-12 (listed as successor to Manor Farm)
  • Clayton, G.L., 1948, 'Southoe Manor. Finds in Town Orchard Site' Transactions of the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Archaeological Society Vol. 7.1 p. 1-6 online copy
  • Lethbridge, T.C. and Tebbutt, C.F., 1939, 'Southoe Manor: preliminary investigations of an early mediaeval moated site at Manor Farm, Southoe, Hunts.' Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society Vol. 38 p. 158-163 online copy