Details

The monument includes the medieval moated site known as Bennington Grange. The
moated site is believed to represent the remains of a monastic grange
associated with a monastic house established at Long Bennington in the late
12th century. In the 15th century the grange was granted, with other lands of
Long Bennington Priory, to Mount Grace Priory in Yorkshire.

The moated island is roughly oval in plan with straight sides on the north
west and north east and covers an area measuring 270m by 170m. The moat,
measuring up to 14m in width and 2m deep, encloses an island measuring 250m by
140m with an internal bank lining the southern moat arm. There is a roughly
square raised mound in the centre of the island measuring up to 50m in width
with an irregular surface indicating the position of buried building remains
thought to be the grange farmhouse. At the eastern side of the island is a
long, rectangular water-filled pond measuring 60m by 10m which would have
provided a supply of fish and fowl. A similar shaped but shorter shallow
depression, measuring 20m in length, at the southern side of the island is
thought to represent another fishpond.

An embanked channel, or leat, measuring 5m in width, leads north east from the
southern moat arm for a distance of approximately 100m and then turns to the
south west towards the raised building platform. The channel represents part
of the water control system and would have served as a sub-division of the
island, partly enclosing the area occupied by the building platform and ponds.

A wide causeway across the moat at the eastern end of the island is thought to
represent an original access point onto the island.

All fences 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.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

A monastic grange was a farm owned and run by a monastic community and
independent of the secular manorial system of communal agriculture and servile
labour. The function of granges was to provide food and raw materials for
consumption within the parent monastic house itself, and also to provide
surpluses for sale for profit. The first monastic granges appeared in the 12th
century but they continued to be constructed and used until the Dissolution.
This system of agriculture was pioneered by the Cistercian order but was soon
imitated by other orders. Some granges were worked by resident lay-brothers
(secular workers) of the order but others were staffed by non-resident
labourers. The majority of granges practised a mixed economy but some were
specialist in their function. Five types of grange are known: agrarian farms,
bercaries (sheep farms), vaccaries (cattle ranches), horse studs and
industrial complexes. A monastery might have more than one grange and the
wealthiest houses had many. Frequently a grange was established on lands
immediately adjacent to the monastery, this being known as the home grange.
Other granges, however, could be found wherever the monastic site held lands.
On occasion these could be located at some considerable distance from the
parent monastery. Granges are broadly comparable with contemporary secular
farms although the wealth of the parent house was frequently reflected in the
size of the grange and the layout and architectural embellishment of the
buildings. Additionally, because of their monastic connection, granges tend to
be much better documented than their secular counterparts. No region was
without monastic granges. The exact number of sites which originally existed
is not precisely known but can be estimated, on the basis of numbers of
monastic sites, at several thousand. Of these, however, only a small
percentage can be accurately located on the ground today. Of this group of
identifiable sites, continued intensive use of many has destroyed much of the
evidence of archaeological remains. In view of the importance of granges to
medieval rural and monastic life, all sites exhibiting good archaeological
survival are identified as nationally important.

Bennnington Grange survives well as a series of earthwork and buried deposits.
Waterlogging in the moat and ponds will preserve organic remains, such as
timber, leather and seeds, which will give an insight into domestic and
economic activity on the site. In addition the artificially raised mound and
banks will preserve evidence of the land use prior to their construction. The
association of the grange with Long Bennington Priory contributes to an
understanding of the inter-relationship of contemporary components of the
wider medieval landscape.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
White, W, History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Lincolnshire, (1856)
Other
Hartley, RF, Leicestershire Museums, 3314/20, (1985)

Source: Historic England