Monument record 158/1 - Moat at Peel Farm

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, White J 1964 SJ86SE2 (Index). SCH2487.

Typical homestead moat with three arms water filled and the majority of the northern arm filled in. North east corner is dry and the outerside of the western arm mutilated and spread. The majority of the sides have a vertical drop with an average depth to water level of 1.4m. The interior is under orchard trees and there is no trace of a building.

<2> Bagnall A, 1977, Excavation at Peel Farm, Astbury, Cheshire, 1973-4, p.42-47 (Article in Journal). SCH1868.

A moat excavated in the early 1970s. At the time of the excavation, approximately three quarters of the original moat was still visible. A small proportion of the Gatehouse of Newbold Manor was reported as still standing in 1915 on or very near to the present farmhouse (built 1926). The site was covered by a layer of brown subsoil up to 500mm deep (from section drawing). No solid foundations were discovered, just what was interpreted as the foundation trenches c.300mm to 1m wide. Most were only visible as shallow ‘grooves’ below the subsoil. Some trenches, which contained Victorian material, cut the subsoil. The pottery recovered generally had no obvious stratification. Very little medieval material was found; there was a considerable amount of 17th and 18th century black glazed ware and other unglazed ware of a similar age. The majority of pottery was of recent origin.

Lines of ‘grooves’ appear to form a ground plan of a building most probably of timber construction since there was no evidence of building stone on the site nor bricks of the appropriate period. The paucity of evidence of buildings and the lack of stratification in the finds was interpreted as evidence of considerable clearance of the site following its demolition and subsequent deposition of imported soil.

<3> Wilson D et al, 1973-1986, Moated Sites Research Group Records, 1986 (Paper Archive). SCH2205.

Single moat, circa 3/4 of an acre in area. In 1986, only part of one side remains as a pond (width c.15m to 7m).

<4> Thompson, P, 1981, Congleton - The Archaeological Potential of a Town, p.3 (Report). SCH968.

<5> Cartlidge, Rev. J.E. Gordon, 1915, Newbold Astbury and its History, p.16-7 (Book). SCH5485.

<6> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Leah M 02/11/2010 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

In the mid to late 1970s the site was levelled and raised above original field level by some 2 ft which when the shippion to the rear of Peel Farm was constructed and the moat was filled in.