NHER 14394 (Monument record) - Site of possible moat at Manor Farm, Oby

Cropmark of possible moat, rectangular, angled north-east to south-west on long axis. Dark cropmarks on light outline (unlike rest of field).
Cut anglewise by thick dark line running north-to-south from corner of barn to gap in dyke to south, presumably later.
North-east corner of moat? Not clear.
Located by E. Rose (NAU) 9 January 1979.

This feature is also visible on 1990 OS air photographs, where the north and south ends do not appear to exactly line up each side of the central ditch. It is rhomboidal in shape.
B.Cushion and E.Rose (NAU), 27 May 1994.

May 2007. Norfolk NMP.
NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 414 143 to TG 4148 1438.

The postulated moated site described above is visible as vegetation marks and perhaps slight earthworks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S4). It is not entirely convincing as a moat; some elements, in particular the suggested western side, appear to be insubstantial and of relatively recent origin, and consequently have not been mapped by the NMP. While the possibility that the more rectilinear elements of the site might represent a moat cannot be ruled out, alternative interpretations of the features – as drainage ditches or even garden features, for example – seem equally plausible. The curvilinear ditch forming the eastern side of the site may or may not be a contemporary feature. It is unlikely that any part of the site pre-dates the medieval period.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 22 May 2007.