Monument record LDG 018 - Earthworks relating to Lidgate Castle and Manor

In 2015 a topographic survey was undertaken on an area enclosed by a large defensive ditch and contains a series of terraces and earthworks suggestive of possible house platforms. The defensive ditch to the west defined the west side of the manorial court and still exists as a sunstantial linear depression. Inside the court is a complex of undulations and flatter platforms. The bailey ditch is deeper at the north end and becomes shallower and less well defined as if pogresses downslope probably losing it's depth to silting or deliberate backfilling. At the north end the ditch is crossed by a trackway which is a continuation of the sunken lane that goes towards the castle. The ditch has been filled in to create this crossing point and was likely to have been part of the castle's original design. The cable trench was excavated through the south end of the bailey ditch, pottery, tile and animal bone were recovered from the backfill. The pottery was particulary concentrated in a spot coinciding with a large area of geophysical disturbance. It dates from the end of the medieval period suggesting that it is assoicated with the manorial site rather than the castle. The east side of the survey area consists of three changes in incline sloping down towards the Bailey Pond. The area is bound on the east side by a large ditch, the east wing of Lidgate Hall stands over the northward projected line of the ditch. On the inside of ditch is a low bank. The survey shows that the extent of the castle and the manorial site is much greater than the area covered the the scheduling (S1). Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2014 (S3).


2014: Magnetometer and earth resistance survey conducted showing areas of magnetic enhancement relating to potential backfilled earthworks and discrete positive anomalies interpreted as archaeologicla pits. Two further positive linear anomalies were also recorded in the eastern field indicative of archaeological or agricultural ditches. Other areas showen potential ditches and banks (S2).