Nether Worton village enclosure
Has been described as a Rejected Urban Defence
There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains
| Name | Nether Worton village enclosure |
| Alternative Names | |
| Historic Country | Oxfordshire |
| Modern Authority | Oxfordshire |
| 1974 Authority | Oxfordshire |
| Civil Parish | Worton |
Moats and ramparts surrounding village sites Nether Worton.
There are remains of a moat surrounding Nether Worton House, and also of a continuation of it to the north beyond the church, which is situated about 70 yds. to the north-east. Its course from the house round the church can be easily traced, but its further line has disappeared. It is most probable, however, that it included the Manor Farm, at the garden of which it now ends. The three buildings thus named as falling within the compass of the moat constitute the whole of the village. A meadow to the east is called Mill Close, and was probably the site of the mill which has been destroyed, and here there is a broad ditch which, with the stream, would form a water enclosure within which the mill very likely stood, and, if so, all the holdings of the village would be protected by water. (VCH 1907)
The VCH supposition that a moat enclosed the whole village cannot be substantiated. The fragment of a now dry moat 0.8m deep (the stream having been diverted) at SP42603018 is at the NW of an area centred at SP42653015 and which would form the conventional enclosure for a manor house, north of the church but not including it. Similarly Manor Farm, a probably 17th cent house, would be outside the area.
Nether Worton House, Jacobean and later, is on higher ground. The moat to the S of the house is 8-10 ft higher than the probable manorial one and appears to be wholly ornamental - 17th or 18th century. It is fed by a complicated leat which runs into the western arm whence the water flows to the extremity of the eastern arm and by an arrangement of sluice and waterfall is returned to the brook E of the church. A doubtful antiquity. (Field Investigators Comments F1 NVQ 12-MAY-70) (PastScape)
Not scheduled
Not Listed
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
| OS Map Grid Reference | SP426301 |
| Latitude | 51.9677886962891 |
| Longitude | -1.38094997406006 |
| Eastings | 442600 |
| Northings | 230100 |
