Medieval moat at New Hall Farm (EHER 81714)

The remains of an incomplete moat at New Hall. The south arm survives only in the SW corner where it is dry and under grass and the north arm was infilled by the present owner about 25 years ago, and now is traceable as a gentle scarp in the garden lawn NW of the farmhouse. The west arm has also been much reduced in both width and depth, although it still survives as a field drain feeding a pond in the NW corner of the moat. The east arm is truncated.

New Hall Farm. There are extensive remains of a square moat (now dry) lying around this farmstead, which is shown as being almost complete and water filled on an estate map of 1726. <1> NRHE data transfer: An incomplete moat at New Hall, Purleigh was identified by P. J. Cook from a map of the hall dated to around 1600. <2> July 1987. Field survey. The remains of a rectangular moat are visible west of New Hall. The south arm survives only in the SW corner where it is dry and under grass, and has a maximum width of 12m and depth of 0.6m; it is truncated to the south and east by the modern access track from the farm to Chelmsford Road. The north arm was infilled by the present owner about 25 years ago, and now is traceable as a gentle scarp in the garden lawn NW of the farmhouse. The west arm has also been much reduced in both width and depth, particularly in its southern half, by the encroachment of the field to the west now planted as a vineyard, although it still survives as a field drain feeding a pond in the NW corner of the moat. The original external length of this west arm was probably in the order of 70m. The modern pond which now occupies its north end is drained to the north by a combination of the field drain, which may perpetuate part of the original water management system for the moat. Surveyed at 1:2500. <3>