Details

The monument includes a moated lodge, 100m south west of Park Farm.
The moated site is associated with the site of a medieval deer park, which
gives its name to the locality. The moated site probably functioned as a
hunting lodge within the park, and is the only surviving element of the park
and its associated features.
The monument includes two visible moat arms forming the northern and western
sides of the original moat, each measuring 75m in length. Originally the moat
would have enclosed an area of some 55m square.
Agricultural activity has caused the infilling of the eastern and southern
arms of the moat, but these will survive as buried features and are still
visible as slight depressions in the surface of the land.
The surviving moat ditches range from between 5m-10m wide across their tops,
although averaging around 7m-8m wide, and are up to 1.5m deep, and still
contain standing water in places.
Although under cultivation, the central island area will retain structural
remains associated with the original occupation of the moat.
An inlet channel is located in the south west corner of the moat, and is
included in the scheduling.
Modern post and wire fences, telegraph poles and farm structures are excluded
from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them 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.

Although the moated site at Park Farm, Holme-on-Spalding Moor has been
partly infilled, and only two of its moated arms survive as visible features,
the remaining two arms will survive as buried features and all four arms will
retain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the period of
their construction. The moat island is unencumbered by modern building and it
will retain evidence of the structure which originally occupied it.
The monument is a rare example of a moated lodge associated with a medieval
deer park. It is one of a number of moated sites in this part of East
Yorkshire, clustering along both the northern and southern sides of the River
Humber, which represent a typical form of settlement of low-lying and flood
plain land such as this in the medieval period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Le Patourel, H.E J, 'Monograph Series No 5' in The Moated Sites of Yorkshire, (1973), 113
Other
Humberside SMR, Sites and Monuments Records Sheets, (1996)

Source: Historic England