Medieval moat at Tiptofts, Wimbish (EHER 161)

The moat remains waterfilled although it is unknown where the source of the water is. There is a stream some 300 metres away which may feed the moat from underground. Also associated with the house are a series of fish ponds, some of which are unusually paired. A map of 1746 shows a total of nine ponds of which there are now seven still extant and five filled.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: Moat with three fishponds to south and south-east and manor house dating from about 1330. The house (EHER 36934) is a remarkable survival of a timber-framed building with an aisled Hall of the 14th century. The moat is rectangular and complete with a width of 10m and a depth of 0.25-2m to water. Manorial status. An estate map dated 1746 shows a total of nine ponds, two of which are no longer visible (both fields having been given over to arable agriculture) and fall outside the area of survey. Seven survive today: two of these had never been recorded before, two have disappeared since 1746, and five still contain water. Of the surveyed ponds, all but one are rectangular and situated in pairs along the field boundaries (the exception is pear-shaped and is attached to the south-eastern corner of the moat); they range in size from 0.01ha to 0.05ha. Water flow appears to have been controlled mainly along the field boundaries (some of which are still extant, either as field boundaries or as earthworks), though some of the ponds may have been fed via groundwater sources. Tiptofts Manor appears to have enjoyed relatively minor status throughout its history, and was probably typical of Essex moated sites of which there are many similar examples in the area. The number of fishponds, and complexity of their arrangement (especially their pairing, which appears to be a relatively rare feature), however, is unusual in moated sites of this status. See archive report and plan at 1:1000 scale. <1> - <5> Probably to be associated with the family of John 'Tippetoft' (1346), also mentioned in 1403, 'Typtotes', 1434, 'Typpetoftes'. <6> 1969. Field survey. Homestead moat, water-filled and in good condition. <7> 1989. Field survey. As described auth 1-6. <8> The Manor House at Tiptofts is surrounded by a quadrangular water-filled moat measuring 68.0m by 65.0m which encloses a platform measuring 4.07m by 38.0m (0.16ha in area). The platform is reached via a brick bridge at the centre of the eastern side and a concrete footbridge on the western side. The platform is between 0.2m and 0.5m higher than the surrounding ground level. The moat was slightly recut some time after 1746 (an estate map of that date shows its original line); earthworks preserve the line of the earlier moat. A brick revetment, later than 1746, defines an extension of the platform along the whole of the eastern side; a similar brick revetment may have existed along the outside of the western side of the moat, facing that on the platform. A slight depression mid-way along the western side of the moat may mark the position of an earlier bridge. There is no obvious water source for the moat, and it is probably fed from underwater springs; the closest stream issues from the ground only 300m to the north west. The buildings within the moat today consist only of the Manor House and a rectangular outbuilding though in the 18th century there were rectangular garden compartments or beds in the north-eastern and south-western corners. The moat is too small to have contained all of the buildings associated with the Manor (a terrier dated 1611 names at least seven other buildings), and the farm was probably always situated in its current position to the north. Tiptofts is located in the area of densest moat concentration within Essex, the north-western 'uplands' around Saffron Walden; in the 11th century this was the area of densest population in Essex. It is a typical Essex example; simple, quadrangular and lacking a causeway, and enclosing an area of 0.16ha, easily within the accepted range of 0.04ha to 6.00ha for Essex moats. It has undergone a series of minor changes throughout its history, but is essentially in its original form. See archive report and plan at 1:1000 scale. <9>