Scheduled Ancient Monument: MOATED SITE 150M SOUTH OF ST JAMES' CHURCH (30522)

The monument includes a moated site located on level ground 150m south of St James' parish church. The moated site is rectangular in plan, with maximum overall dimensions of approximately 72m south west-north east by 58m, and the moat, which varies in width from approximately 10m at the western end of the southern arm to 4.5m, encloses the north, west and south sides of the central platform. The eastern side is defined by a modern field boundary, but on the inner (western) side of this, towards the southern end, can be seen a slight depression approximately 4m wide in the ground surface, which is believed to mark the buried remains of a continuation of the moat ditch, now almost completely infilled, around the south eastern corner. The moat, which is fed by surface drainage, contains water except at the eastern end, where both the northern and southern arms diminish in width and visible depth. There is evidence, however, that this part of the southern arm has become partly infilled and was originally wider, the line of the original outer lip being marked by a break in the ground surface. The corresponding end of the northern arm has become almost completely infilled, but can be traced as a slight linear hollow in the ground surface, beneath which it will survive as a buried feature. An external pond, which is included in the scheduling, opens off the western arm of the moat, extending approximately 25m south westwards from its outer edge. The western end of this pond has been partly infilled, but the outline remains visible as a break in the ground surface. In the south eastern part of the area enclosed by the moat there is a slightly raised rectangular platform on which stood a cottage built of clay lump. The building was damaged by the blast from an explosion at a munitions dump at Metfield air base in 1944 and was subsequently demolished, but traces of it will survive below the ground surface. Originally, the moated site probably contained a medieval manorial dwelling which, together with the church, the earliest parts of which are dated to the late 11th or early 12th century, represents the core of a medieval settlement. Elsewhere in the parish there is evidence for medieval settlement to the west, around the southern end of Greshaw Green (enclosed in the mid-19th century), and to the south east, skirting the north side of a medieval deer park belonging to the bishop of Norwich, which lay 500m to the south of the moated site. (St James was one of the nine parishes of what was termed the liberty, manor or township of South Elmham which, until the time of the Reformation was held chiefly by the bishops of Norwich.) A shed standing within the moated site, and a modern barn and associated yard surface above the south east corner are excluded from the scheduling, together with all modern fence and gate posts, although the ground beneath these features is included.