Details

The monument includes the buried and earthwork remains of a medieval moated
manor house site located immediately to the south of the 14th century St
Mary's Church.
The moated site was leased to Thomas Ughtred in 1402 by St Mary's Abbey in
York. In the mid-1970s, foundations, hearths, pottery and wooden stakes were
reported as having been found by the owner of the site Test cores taken by the
Humber Wetlands Project in 1995-6 revealed that the moat ditches contained
surviving organic material with good preservation of pollen grains.
The moated site is roughly rectangular in plan, orientated north-south. The
moat ditch, which is typically 1.5m to 2m deep and 15m wide, surrounds an
island 70m east-west and 90m north-south. The northern moat arm is wider than
the other sides, being about 25m across, and is crossed midway by a causeway
which is in line with the west end of the church. This causeway has been
broadened in recent years, but was reported as the remains of a causeway or
pair of bridge abutments in the 1960s by the Ordnance Survey. There is no
evidence for an external bank around the moat; instead the upcast from the
ditches was used to raise the ground surface of the island. The main island is
subdivided with a further moat ditch, 15m wide and up to 2m deep, cut around
the south east corner of the island to form a second island approximately 35m
square. The ground surface of this smaller island is slightly higher than the
rest. Linking the north west corner of this smaller island to the causeway
across the northern moat arm there is a slightly sunken trackway.
Excluded from the scheduling are the modern pigeon coops just to the south
east of the causeway and all fencing, although the ground beneath 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.

Hall Garths is a well preserved example of a small but complex 14th century
moated site. Remains of the manor house will survive on the island together
with evidence of the medieval life and economy of the site. These will include
building foundations, rubbish pits, and features related to small scale
industrial activity and gardening. The monument's importance is heightened by
the good preservation of organic remains and pollen within the moat ditches.
This will provide valuable information about the medieval site's local
environment which rarely survives elsewhere. The moat ditches are also
expected to retain timbering related to one or more bridges across the moats,
wooden and leather items lost or thrown away, animal and fish bones and other
discarded food remains.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Humber Archaeological Partnership, 1321, (1997)

Source: Historic England