NHER 9103 (Monument record) - Probable medieval moat and enclosures

December 1960. Aerial photograph. Deopham Green.
Marks visible. Moat? Ditches visible.
R. R. Clarke (NCM) and A. P. Baggs (RCHME), 4 December 1960.

In fact on tithe map these marks, as drawn on (S1), are within a huge moated area stretching to ditches to south, and with small outer enclosure across road to northeast. Southwest area of large moat now covered with modern farm buildings.
E. Rose (NAU).

May 1973.
Surveyed during Man Power Back to Work funded rapid moat survey.
See (S2).
J. Allen (NLA), 15 August 2001.

May 1987. Visit.
The main area is under crop but the small outer compartment across road to northeast is well preserved under pasture, the ditches still part waterfilled. The diagonal line drawn by R. R. Clarke (NCM) is probably the west side of the north section of the main compartment, slightly misplaced, as this is visible as wide depression under crop (about 2-3m wide, 1-1.5m deep) much spread by plough, diverging from road line towards northeast. From the field edge, no trace could be seen of the other cropmarks indicated.
E. Rose (NAU), 7 May 1987.

September 2012. Norfolk NMP.
The site of a medieval moat and associated boundaries and/or channels are visible on aerial photographs (S3-S4). The overall site is centred on TM 0464 9875, although the main moated components visible on the aerial photographs are centred on TM 0466 9883. Previous interpretations of the site have included ditches/field boundaries to the south of the main moat as part of the site. Although some of the boundaries, in particular those to the south, are clearly relatively major drainage ditches of some depth in 1946 (S3-S4), it was not entirely clear from the aerial photographs whether these were actually part of the moated site as such, or just drainage ditches associated with the farm at that location. They are not depicted as water-filled channels on the 1843 Tithe map (S5) that clearly shows the northern moat components.
The aerial photographs indicate that the site was still surviving as relatively substantial earthworks in 1946 (S3-S4), including traces of an interior bank or edge of platform within the main enclosure. The exact plan of the moat is uncertain on the eastern side. The earthworks, particularly that of the banked component, would suggest it turns and follows an angle the western arm of the moat. This is would fit plan of the site recorded by the 1973 Rapid Moat Survey (S2). However the aerial photographs also indicate a possible perpendicular channel running alongside the eastern field boundary. This is consistent with the line of the moat depicted on the Tithe Map (S5). Part of the earthwork channels to the northeast of the main moat are not clearly visible due to vegetation.
The main addition to the site from the aerial photographs is the line of a former channel and/or boundary ditch/hollow way, which appears to lead towards the main moat channel from the southwest. Only two sections of this are clearly visible in 1946 (S3-S4), however a more indistinct scarp edge further to the east, suggests a former continuation of it (not mapped but the extent of which is included within the monument polygon).
S. Horlock (NMP), 19 September 2012.