Great Moat Farm

Has been described as a Questionable Fortified Manor House

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains

NameGreat Moat Farm
Alternative Names
Historic CountryShropshire
Modern AuthorityShropshire
1974 AuthorityShropshire
Civil ParishChirbury With Brompton

A rectangular defence of a medieval fortified house; possibly the manor house of Timberth, which was a member of Chirbury, and held of the castle of Montgomery by the tenure of castle guard (Clark 1877).

Moated site, situated in an elevated position at the W end of a small ridge. The land falls away from it on all sides, but most steeply to the N. The site is almost completely destroyed, the only surviving portions being parts of the NE and NW arms of the moat, the rest having been destroyed by Great Moat Farm (SA 22556) and its outbuildings. Only the outer scarp of the NE arm remains, being 0.8m in height and c 35m in length. At its N end where it once formed an angle with the NW arm it has been cut through and destroyed by a farm trackway. the surviving fragment of the NW arm shows only as a very shallow marshy depression, having been partially backfilled. It is c 37m in length. There is no trace of any moat on the SW and SE sides. The whole site is very poor and in a bad state of preservation (M Watson 1980 - Shrop SMR field report). (Shropshire HER)

Gatehouse Comments

One of a number of small manors, in reality little more than farmsteads, in the area held by tenants who owed military service, usually a fraction of a knight fee (suggesting tenants of sergeant status rather than knights). Many of these manors are marked with small mottes. There is nothing to suggest this damaged site had a motte, although that can not be excluded, the small moat may have served a similar function of marking the military status of the tenant. However, the status of the site makes this a 'homestead moat' rather than a fortified manor house.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law

Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSO247968
Latitude52.5645294189453
Longitude-3.11096000671387
Eastings324790
Northings296880
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Eyton, R.W., 1860, Antiquities of Shropshire (London: John Russell Smith) Vol. 11 p. 68-9 (tenurial history) online copy

Journals

  • 1980, Moated Sites Research Group report Vol. 7 p. 50
  • Clark, G.T., 1877, 'The moated mounds of the upper Severn' Montgomeryshire Collections Vol. 10 p. 337 online copy