Scheduled Ancient Monument: MOATED SITE OF OLD BERGHERSH HOUSE (21401)

The monument includes the moated site of Old Berghersh House, located on level ground 1.5km north of the village and parish church of Witnesham, which lie in the valley of the River Fynn below. The moat, which is water-filled, steep-sided and ranges in width between approximately 8m and 12.5m, surrounds a sub-rectangular central island with maximum internal dimensions of 75m east-west by 70m. The eastern end of the northern arm of the moat is enlarged to form a rectangular external pond which measures approximately 22m north-south by 27.5m east-west and is thought to be an original feature. Another pond, formed by an enlargement of the south east external angle of the moat but now largely silted, is visible as a hollow about 0.75m deep in the ground surface. Access to the interior is provided by causeways across the southern ends of the eastern and western arms of the moat, although the dished profiles of both these features is evidence that they were created by infilling sections of the moat, probably to replace an earlier bridge. Evidence for the substantial house which once stood on the central island includes a large quantity of broken clay roof tiles and other building material which was exposed on the surface when the site was ploughed. The location of the house and associated buildings is indicated by the recorded distribution of these finds, concentrated across the eastern half of the island as a whole and along the northern and southern sides. Pottery fragments found on the surface have been dated to between the 13th and 15th centuries. The water supply to Berghersh Farm House (now Berghersh Place), which was built in 1810, was formerly pumped from the moat, and a brick structure, thought to be part of a filter chamber and included in the scheduling, is visible in the outer side of the western arm of the moat. Modern gate and fence posts and a service pole near the inner edge of the southern arm of the moat are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.