NEWTON AND HACEBY: HACEBY MOAT

TF 032360

 

The moated enclosure at Haceby (Fig 62) is situated beyond deserted tofts on the edge of Haceby Little Wood some 125 metres to the east of the present village, and presumably marks the site of a manor house, but it has not proved possible to identify it with any degree of certainty. In both 1066 and 1086 there were three manors in the settlement and one parcel of sokeland that belonged to Folkingham, but this tenurial complexity was probably belied by a greater simplicity at the level of actual tenure and exploitation. Alfric, the predecessor of Guy de Craon, may have had some superiority in the vill before the Conquest since he enjoyed extensive rights of jurisdiction, and at the time of the survey the same Godwin seems to have been the tenant of the manors of Waldin the Breton and Guy de Craon (1). This personal link between fees may have persisted for several hundred years, despite a tangled feudal superstructure. By the mid thirteenth century three honours were represented in the vill, and there was a bewildering number of mesne tenancies. But in 1242 half the fee of William Longespee, the successor to Waldin, was held by a Robert de Thorpe who was at the same time the tenant of the honour of Craon's estate (2). This pattern of tenure was further simplified, when in the late thirteenth century Robert's lands were acquired by William de Durevye, the lord of the Gant fee and the other half of William de Longespee's (3). It was not until c.1350 that the link was broken, but by then the land was probably held by non-resident lords.

          It is likely, then, that, despite the number of interests in the vill, there were never more than two knightly families living in Haceby at any one time. Unfortunately, no evidence has come to light to indicate to which fee the moated enclosure belonged, and any conclusion can be only speculative. However, it might be hazarded that the relative remoteness of the site from the church militates against an association with the Craon fee, to which the advowson belonged (4), and suggests that it may have belonged to the Durvye family.

          The moat is of a simple rectangular shape, 30 by 50 metres, comparable with those at Dowsby and Swaton, but slightly larger than that at Spanby (Fig 63). It has ditches 10 to 15 metres wide and partial remains of banks outside the ditches varying between two and five metres wide at the top. These are shown on the plan on the north and east sides, but there is also a complete bank on the south side, visible in an arable field, which was not included in the survey.

 

1.       Lincs DB, 24/88; 26/45; 46/1; 48/8; 57/18.

 

2.       BF, 1029; RH i, 255b.

 

3.       FA iii, 129, 135, 195, 197; CI iii, 163; CI vii, 234; CI viii, 194.

 

4.       Lincs D8, 57/18.