Monument record LRM 001 - Moat, Letheringham Hall or Old Hall

Moat, occupied, isolated, square, beside River Deben and parish boundary. Known as Old Hall on site of Letheringham Hall.
1991: Roughly square moated island of about half an acre. The moat was linked with the nearby River Deben by a short channel (shown on OS 1:2500 map, 1904), but this has now been infilled and only a narrow slit remains. Island is reached by a causeway with brick-revetted sides (possibly C16 brickwork at the base, much eroded, later brickwork at the top). The front face of the island is also revetted - with a mixture of mortared flint, brick and sandstone (?crag) blocks, much eroded and repaired. Two projecting buttresses can be seen on this face, on the side to the S of the causeway. Traces of revetting can also be seen on the SW and NW sides of the island and on the outside of the moat near the SW corner. Above the SW corner are some substantial sandstone or crag foundations, possibly for a dovecote. Present house on this island is timber-framed with a staggered purlin roof, probably C17. Outside and to the NE of the moat is a large 10-bay barn with a queen- strut roof (S1).
Site of the Manor of Letheringham, held from the time of Domesday down to the C14 by the Boville family, who were seated here at Letheringham. The Manor passed by descent to the Wingfield family, who also lived here. The Hall was described as a `godly house' circa 1605 (S2). However, soon afterwards the Wingfields abandoned Letheringham in favour of Godwin's in Hoo and The White House in Easton. House is said to have been rebuilt circa 1790 (S3). Scheduled 1994, details in (S4).
2008: Monitoring of desilting works at Letheringham Hall, Letheringham, was carried out as a condition of the Scheduled Ancient Monument consent. (SAM 21300). Remnants of revetting walls survived around both the inner and outer sides of the moat ditch, the locations of which were recorded using a GPS. These are likely to represent several different phases of maintenance and repair. Only one small area of consolidated silt and gravel deposits were observed, located within the internal face of the northern arm of the moat, below a section of flint and mortar revetting. It was not possible to determine any stratigraphic relationship with the flint and mortar revetting but one large rim sherd from a medieval coarseware vessel was recovered from this deposit. Elsewhere, only recent, organic silts were present, suggesting that the moat had been thoroughly cleaned and maintained over its history (S5).

Features visible on Lidar. See associated files.

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2008 (S6)