17th century moat or drainage ditch at Little Rakefairs (EHER 1192)

17th century moat surrounding a contemporary house. It is imperfect on the west side.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: Moat at Little Rakefairs is imperfect on the west side. <1> <2> Rakefairs is probably to be associated with the family of Robert Rekevier (1381), also mentioned 1544. <3> 1952. Field survey. Poor, overgrown. <4> April 1975. Field survey. Around the house is a rectangular drainage enclosure common to 17th century farmsteads in this region. The cut is irregular and varies from about 2.0m to 4.0m in width, and there is no indication of there ever having been a complete circuit. The tithe map of 1839 shows similar detail to the OS 25". <5> - <9> 1977. Field survey. North side expanded to a pond. Incomplete, rectangular. On the north side it is 10m wide, expanded here to a pond, 0.5m deep to the water. On the south and east sides it is 5m wide and 1m deep to the water. Farm and garden in arable. <10> Tracing from sketch by Stokes from OS 25" and site visit is on back of typed MSRG card and on back of SMR sheet. <11> Two photos in SMR. <12> Moat (NR). <13> Area = 0.18