NHER 7274 (Monument record) - Earthworks of a medieval moat, possibly the site of Gunton’s Manor

Moat situated ina small wood (S1).

Surveyed by P. Wade-Martins.
See (S2) where P. Wade-Martins gives the evidence for this being the site of Gunton's Manor.
This wood has surprisingly survived inside the airfield, the local people say because it was used as a bomb dump. Probably for this reason it is still fenced off, but the ditches are visible, and still hold water. But what is the evidence for it being a moat and not just a ditched wood?
E. Rose (NAU), 7 October 1976.

July 1984.
Disturbance noted from air by D.A. Edwards.

July 1984.
Machining out of moats for outlet from turkey farm. North arm completely recut; now 7.5m wide, over 2m deep. Natural clay sides to ditch except where indicated on plan. North end of east arm recut through filling. West arm recut through filling progressively deeper to north. Partial sections of moat filling visible on east and west sides of causeway in north arm. East side is clear cut and shows moat to have been about 6m wide and about 2m deep.
Ditch running north from northwest corner has been recut so that no silting survives. About 5m wide strip along inner edge of west and north arms stripped of vegetation.
Careful examination produced one base ?glazed Grimston , one sherd glazed Grimston, two sherds medieval unglazed.
No finds from soil dumps on airfield about 50m southwest of southeast end of north range of Mathews Turkey House.
A. Rogerson (NAU), 25 July 1984.

Finds = Context 1.
E. Rose (NAU).

Copy of plan (S3) in file.

A sluice has been inserted to northeast corner, controlling the flow of contaminated water from the turkey sherds.
H. Paterson (NAU), November 1992.

9 September 1996.
East arm of moat slubbed out. Inner west edges show exposed natural near base. Outer east edge unaffected and merely smeared. Base lowered by about 35 to 40cm. Removed soil almost entirely non-ancient organic silt.
NB. numerous pieces of carrstone (not IBC) on south edge of south arm part covered by bushes. Other small pieces visible on surface of arable field to south.
A. Rogerson (NLA), 9 September 1996.

October 2003. Visit.
A little gorse cover, this to be treated, some already treated and dying off. No animal disturbance.
H. Paterson (A&E), 19 February 2004.

Gunton's Manor is named after Thomas Gunton who held it in 1347.
Information from (S2).
D. Robertson (NLA), 17 May 2006.

September 2023. Wendling Beck and Fransham Aerial Investigation and Mapping (AIM) Project.
The medieval moat described above is visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs (S4-S5) and visualised lidar data (S6). The earthworks have been mapped from the visualised lidar data, but, as described above, this reflects its current form, which has been re-cut several times in recent years. It is not clear whether the northern element is merely a field boundary (as depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1st edition 6 inch map, S7), or part of the moated enclosure. Internal banks around the inside of the ditch are probably the result of modern slubbing out and have not been mapped. Comparison with the historical Ordnance Survey maps indicates that the southwest corner of the moat has been levelled, but this is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S5). Tracks can be seen leading into the site from the Second World War airfield (NHER 7275) on 1940s aerial photographs (for example, S8), but tree cover prevents confirmation that the site was being used as a bomb store, as suggested above. As the lidar survey was flown relatively recently (2017) it is probable that the earthworks still survive as mapped.
S. Tremlett (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 20 September 2023.