Monument record MDO5150 - Moat, Tarrant Rushton

Moat on the floodplain of the Tarrant (Type AI(b)) surrounding an approximately rectangular island measuring approximately 160 ft. by 130 ft. Probably surrounded the former Rushton manor house. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water. Features associated with the moated earthworks are visible on aerial photographs dated 1948 and on Environment Agency lidar imagery and were digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM Project.

ST 937061. A moat, about 50 yds NW of the parish church, encloses an approximately rectangular island of 130 ft by 160 ft. The island is bounded on the W by the Tarrant and on the other sides by a ditch, up to 40 ft wide and 4 ft deep. On the N and S are low external and internal banks and on the S the ditch has partly
gone. The island has alarge depression, 2 1/2 ft deep, near the SW corner, and two platforms at right angles to one another on the internal bank at the NE corner. The moat was formerly thought to be the site of the Medieval chapel and hospital of St Leonard but it more probably surrounded Tarrant Rushton manor house. The site of the chapel and hospital is at St Leonards Farm. <2>

Rectangular moated site. <4>

Features associated with the moated earthworks are visible on aerial photographs dated 1948 and on Environment Agency lidar imagery <6-7>. These comprise a bank and outer ditch extending along the north and east sides of the moat, and part of a linear bank extending westwards from St Mary's Church. An additonal section of an outer bank appears visible on the north side of the moat. The west side of the moat is defined by the River Tarrant. The features enclose an area of approximately 56m by 48m. They were digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM Project.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1902 (Map). SWX1540.

(ST 93700610) Moat (NR) St Leonard's Hospital (NR) (Site of) (NAT)

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1943, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1942, 34-42 (Serial). SDO42.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 113-114 (Monograph). SDO99.

'(10) Moat (937061), about 50 yds. N.W. of (1), is of class A1(b), (see West Cambridgeshire, lxii). The site, in the floodplain of the Tarrant, was formerly thought to represent a medieval chapel of St.Leonard and is noted by this name on the Ordnance Survey, but this has been disproved; it more probably surrounded Tarrant Rushton manor house (Dorset Procs., 64 (1942), 34-42). An approximately rectangular island, 130 ft. by 160 ft., is bounded on the W. by the Tarrant and on the other sides by a ditch, up to 40 ft. wide and 4 ft. deep. On N. and S. are low external and internal banks; on the S. the ditch has partly gone. The island has a large depression 2½ ft. deep near the S.W. corner, and two platforms at right angles to one another on the internal bank at the N.E. corner.'

<4> Department of the Environment, 1978, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England (Vol 2), 83 (Monograph). SWX1687.

<5> English Heritage, Field Monument Warden report, 03-OCT-1988 (Unpublished document). SDO19187.

<6> Royal Air Force, 01-JAN-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 RS 4316 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18057.

<7> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

<8> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 884039 (Index). SDO14738.

Tarrant Rushton Moat/survey. Fieldwork survey of earthworks from The Moat at Tarrant Rushton, with references to local landmarks.Bibliographic References : 1) Monument No.10.

<9> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/097 RCHME Inventory: Dorset IV (North) (Unpublished document). SDO17498.

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 209393 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 20 2025 11:10AM