Scheduled Ancient Monument: MOATED SITE AND ASSOCIATED FISHPOND TO THE SOUTH EAST OF BARROW HALL (33309)

The monument includes a medieval moated site and associated fishpond about 400m to the north of Barrow Green and 600m SSE of All Saints' Church. The moated site includes a rectangular island, measuring up to 96m north to south by 90m east to west. An inner bank along the western and southern sides, which measures up to 9m wide and approximately 2m high, is all that remains of a bank which originally extended around all but the north west corner of the island and may have originally been constructed as a raised walkway around a formal garden. The island is surrounded by a waterfilled moat measuring an average 21m in width and up to 4m in depth. Outer banks, measuring up to 12m wide and in places 1.5m high are visible along the north, east, south and part of the western side. These banks are thought to have been constructed with material dug from the moat. A causeway across the western arm of the moat is known to have been in use before 1597 and is believed to represent the original access to the island. An extension to the western arm of the moat runs northwards for 86m with a bank on its east side. This extension is marked on a map of 1840 as a separate pond. A further pond, on the same north to south alignment as the extension, measures 65m long by 20m wide. It is thought that these ponds represent either medieval fishponds or perhaps ornamental garden features associated with an early post-medieval formal garden to the north of the moat. The moated site is thought to be the site of the manor of Barrow, mentioned in the 12th and 13th centuries as belonging to the Passelewe family. By 1540 the manor had been acquired by Sir Clement Heigham. Sir Clement is recorded as building a manor house at Barrow in the 1550s, and a 1779 map copying one drawn up in 1597 depicts a manor house on the moated site. The map depicts Barrow Hall as an L-shaped group of buildings consisting of a double-storeyed main range running north to south and a single storey range running east to west. The local historian, J Gage records that Barrow Hall was standing until the mid-18th century and that fragments of it were still standing within the moat in 1838. Building material has been recorded on the surface of the island over the past 30 years and an iron key, thought to be 13th century in date, and a fragment of a bronze belt end have both been found on the moated site. The 16th century manor house may have replaced an earlier medieval building on the moat island. The present Barrow Hall, which is a Listed Building Grade II dated to the 17th century, is sited to the north west of the moated site. The fencing and gates, on and around the moated site and the horse exerciser on the island are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included.