LANGTOFT 2

TF 126134

The moat already described (Langtoft 1), is the surviving fragment of one which surrounded the Hall itself. This one, situated some 250 metres further north (Fig 72), seems unlikely to be connected with the main complex. At present it holds a small plantation. It is situated on the Car Dyke amost abutting on the southern side of the east-west boundary between the parishes of Langtoft and Baston. Its eastern ditch coincides with the projected line of the Car Dyke which was perhaps deliberately utilised. The location of this moat and its unusual elongated form seem to preclude habitative use by man, yet it is likely that it surrounded a manorial appurtenance of some kind. An estate map of 1890 appears to confirm this, for the field immediately to the south-west is called Coneygree Piece (1). The size and form of the moated area is not inconsistent with the recorded sizes of some rabbit warrens (2). It is however, much larger than those recently published from Bryn Cysergfan (3). The use of a ditch, either wet or dry, around an artificial warren is also known (4). There is additional archaeological interest in the area because of the presence in the immediate vicinity, not yet precisely located, of an early Anglo-Saxon burial ground, but there is no evidence to suggest that this earthwork had its origins at such an early date.

Both the moated sites lie at the eastern end of the village at a common level of six metres OD, the same as that of the surrounding fields. Langtoft 2 is of more or less rectangular shape, enclosing an area 110 metres long (north/south alignment) by 35 metres east/west (Fig 91). The dry ditches were in good condition when visited, averaging 1.7 metres deep and varying from eight to fifteen metres wide. There is no evidence that the enclosed platform was ever any higher than at present.

1. LAO, Ancaster 5/B/1/6/1.

2. J. Sheail, Rabbits and their History, Newton Abbot, 1971, 40.

3. D.Austin, 1988 Excavations and Survey at Bryn Cysergfan, Llanfair Clydogau, Dyfed, 1979, Med Archaeol 32, 130-165.