Details

The monument includes a large moated site situated in a low-lying area to the
south of the River Arun.
The site has a roughly rectangular island, aligned NW-SE, surrounded by a
partially waterfilled moat. The island measures c.220m by c.130m and contains
the remains of a 13th-century house and chapel known from documentary sources
to have been built on the island. The buried foundations of the chapel lie
c.80m to the east of the present house, which itself marks the probable
location of the original house. Around the southern edge of the island is a
bank up to 12m wide and 2m high.
The western corner of the surrounding moat is no longer visible at ground
level, having been deliberately infilled, but survives as a buried feature.
Elsewhere the moat is still visible and measures between 7m and 13m wide and
at its deepest point is c.4.5m deep. The northern arm, the southern section of
the eastern arm, part of the southern arm and the visible part of the western
arm are waterfilled. A causeway situated across the eastern arm of the moat
may be an original access to the island. On the outer side of the southern arm
is a bank believed to be constructed from the dredged silts of the moat.
Drungewick originally belonged to the cell of the Norman Abbey of Seez in
Arundel and in 1256 passed to John de Clymping, fourteenth Bishop of
Chichester, who built a house and chapel on the site.
Excluded from the scheduling are the inhabited house and bungalow, garage,
sheds and barns, pavilion/summerhouse, tennis court, greenhouses, footbridge,
modern walling and fences although the ground beneath all these features is
included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Around 6,000 moated sites are known in England. They consist of wide ditches,
often or seasonally water-filled, partly or completely enclosing one or more
islands of dry ground on which stood domestic or religious buildings. In some
cases the islands were used for horticulture. The majority of moated sites
served as prestigious aristocratic and seigneurial residences with the
provision of a moat intended as a status symbol rather than a practical
military defence. The peak period during which moated sites were built was
between about 1250 and 1350 and by far the greatest concentration lies in
central and eastern parts of England. However, moated sites were built
throughout the medieval period, are widely scattered throughout England and
exhibit a high level of diversity in their forms and sizes. They form a
significant class of medieval monument and are important for the understanding
of the distribution of wealth and status in the countryside. Many examples
provide conditions favourable to the survival of organic remains.

Drungewick Manor moated site survives well with large areas of the island
remaining undisturbed. The waterlogged nature of the moat provides conditions
for the preservation of organic remains relating to the economy of the site's
inhabitants and the landscape in which they lived.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Buckwell, J C, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in Sussex Archaeological Collections, , Vol. 56, (1914), 161-4
Other
TQ03SE2, (1970)

Source: Historic England