NHER 2456 (Monument record) - Medieval moated site

16 February 1977. Visit.
Moat (Ordnance Survey). Close inspection was not possible, but this has apparently been made into an ornamental garden. Embankment along inner edge about 0.6m (2 feet) high has steps cut up it.
E. Rose (NAU).

A sub square homestead moat situated on a gentle south slope. It measures overall about 54.0m east to west by 55.0m north to south, the arms averaging 12.0m wide by 2.0m deep, on the north side. The water level is maintained by surface drainage with a pond forming the south arm. The south edge of the island has been damaged by garden landscaping.
A causeway crosses the northwest angle with a slight hollowing on the inner side, but no trace of a building was seen within the enclosure.
Ordnance Survey Records.
R. J. Rickett (NAU), 7 March 1990

Most of moat waterfilled. Interior mown grass, shrubs and a few willows. Owners have removed some of the previous landscaping features, without damaging the integrity of the site.
H. Paterson (A&E), 3 May 1996.

Tithe map calls the field Talbots, which is the name of one of the two manors, so presumably a manorial site.
H. Bamford, 4 August 1998.

July 1999. Scheduled.
Scheduling Description:
The monument includes a moated site situated at the western end of Crimplesham village and to the south of Downham Road, which at this point formerly ran to the south of the present line and within 30m of the north west corner of the moat. The moated site is at the south west corner of a field which is named on a map of 1839 as Talbots, and it is probable that it is the site of the medieval manor house of that name.
The moat is approximately 10m wide on average and remains open to a depth of up to 1.5m measured from the surrounding surface, although a small part of the outer edge at the northern end of the western arm is known to have been infilled. It is for the most part only seasonally wet, except for the southern arm which has been modified to form a pond and is water filled, and it surrounds a sub-rectangular central platform measuring approximately 32m east-west by 30m north-south and raised up to 0.5m in height above the prevailing ground level. The moat is crossed at the north west corner by a dished causeway which is probably not an original feature, and a second causeway at the south east corner is almost certainly of post-medieval date. On the southern side of the central platform and separated from the adjoining arm of the moat by an earthen bank about 0.5m in height, is an oval depression approximately 0.8m deep, 23m long east-west and up to 10m wide, which is thought to represent the remains of an internal pond.
Talbots was one of several medieval manors in Crimplesham and is recorded in 1371 when it was held by Stephen de Talbot. By the end of the 14th century it had passed to the Derham family and remained in their possession until the early 17th century when it was sold, together with Wesenham and Coldham manors, to the Soames family.
Rustic benches on the central platform, modern flint walling against the southern side of the internal depression, and fencing on the outer edge of the moat and yard surfaces adjoining the western arm of the moat are all excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.
Information from (S1) and (S2).
H. Mellor (HES), 22 June 2018.