Monument record MDO197 - Moat at East Hewstock, Beaminster

Adjoining Horn Hill was a farm called East Hewstock, in the mid 16th century leased for lives. The Strodes had in ancient times resided there and at that place "the signs of walls and of a moat about the house were still to be seen". <1>

The general area is now occupied by gardens and by a large private residence, on the forecourt of which the siting symbol falls. The published site of the moat now forms part of the building platform of the house and the moat and is no longer recognisable as an antiquity.

Only fragments of the earthworks remain. See annotated 1:2500 plan. <4>

East Hewstock is referred to in documents of 1413. The remains of buildings were still visible in the 17th century, and the moat and its adjojning earthworks remained visible until earlier this century, consisting of an irregular four-sided enclosure covering about one acre.

The site has since been built on and the earthworks destroyed. <3> <5>

<1> Shipp, W, and Hodson, J W (eds), 1863, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. 3rd edition. Volume 2, 129 (Monograph). SWX1269.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, 1903 (Map). SDO10373.

(ST 46560280) East Hewstock (NR) (Site of) Moat (NR)

<3> Fagersten, A, 1933, Place-names of Dorset, 263 (Monograph). SDO17521.

<4> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 15-MAY-55 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<5> Upton, K L, 1978, The Moated Sites of Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO14051.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 193010 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 14 2022 2:21PM