Castlefacts³

Buckland moat

Has been described as a Possible Timber Castle (Other/Unknown), and also as a Possible Fortified Manor House

There are earthwork remains

Name	Buckland moat
Alternative Names
Historic Country	Hertfordshire
Modern Authority	Hertfordshire
1974 Authority	Hertfordshire
Civil Parish	Buckland

Fragment of a circular homestead moat, SW of the church. Visible on APs. OS field visit of 1973 records the moat as infilled, 'its course being defined by a darker growth of grass within a pasture field' Filled in 20 or more years ago. At the time of the visit, there was a circular area in the field where the grass did not protrude through the snow. 1st edition OS maps, and APs taken in 1947, show a large and almost perfectly circular feature (labelled 'track of moat' on the 1878 map), with a wide entrance to the NW, at this location. All the photographs show a substantial internal feature, and two appear to show further earthworks adjacent and to the north. This site has been interpreted as a homestead moat since the early 20C, but these earthworks suggest a more complex site, and possibly a defensive site, such as a small motte and bailey, or ringwork. Approximately 20m to the east/north east, alongside the road, is an extant waterfilled roadside pond, which OS mapping and photographic evidence suggests may be the slight remains of a moat (Hertfordshire HER)

Gatehouse Comments

Located in village by church and certainly seems higher status than a 'homestead moat'. Held for a knights fee service at Tonge Castle. Although a relatively small manor sub-tenanted manor there was a market here and the location on Ermine Street must have been good for trade. Members of the Buckland family held royal positions in the C13. The history and status of the manor and family are certainly consistent with a fortified manor house in the C13 and could have been a small timber castle in the early C12 or even earlier (the place-name Buckland Bury may be suggestive of a thegnal burh). Whether this was a castle or just a manorial complex is a question worth investigation although that question itself may suggest a false differentiation between castle and manor house.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)

368301

County Historic Environment Record

www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MHT1940&resourceID=1008

OS Map Grid Reference	TL357337
Latitude	51.9861488342285
Longitude	-0.0242800004780293
Eastings	535770
Northings	233780