Ring & Bailey, Fozy Moss. Photo A Curtis (2014).
Moated site and fish-pond, 1km ENE of Sewingshields on Fozy Moss (Simonburn, Northumberland, UK).
Location: NY 81782 70708
I've always been intrigued by this site and its possible relationship with Sewingshields Castle of which very little remains. It is described as a moated site (incorporating a fish-pond on the north side) which seems to occupy a small knoll sitting in the middle of boggy moorland. It has been described as a medieval 'slightly unusual ring motte'. A recent description suggested that the earthwork may have originally been an island, located in the lough north of Hadrian's Wall, which was drained before about 1730 or even that it could be the remains of a crannog of late prehistoric or post-Roman date.
Keys to the Past: N7838
The moated site at Fozy Moss is a Scheduled Monument: List Entry: 1011080
Location: NY 81782 70708
I've always been intrigued by this site and its possible relationship with Sewingshields Castle of which very little remains. It is described as a moated site (incorporating a fish-pond on the north side) which seems to occupy a small knoll sitting in the middle of boggy moorland. It has been described as a medieval 'slightly unusual ring motte'. A recent description suggested that the earthwork may have originally been an island, located in the lough north of Hadrian's Wall, which was drained before about 1730 or even that it could be the remains of a crannog of late prehistoric or post-Roman date.
Keys to the Past: N7838
The moated site at Fozy Moss is a Scheduled Monument: List Entry: 1011080
Pond within Ring & Bailey enclosure, Fozy Moss. Photo A Curtis (2014).
I posted this on the LiDAR and Aerial Archaeology group page on Facebook on 7th November 2024.
A contributor, Alistair Paul, commented: ·
"Is that not for trapping wild fowl? they use a pond and curving trap coming off it".
He included a link to the following article:
Robinson, K. (2004). Duck decoys in Kent.
Kent Archaeol Rev 156. Vol 156, pp. 125-128.
A contributor, Alistair Paul, commented: ·
"Is that not for trapping wild fowl? they use a pond and curving trap coming off it".
He included a link to the following article:
Robinson, K. (2004). Duck decoys in Kent.
Kent Archaeol Rev 156. Vol 156, pp. 125-128.
The author states that "... the first pipe decoy in England was built by Sir William Wodehouse (d.1639) on his estate at Waxham, Norfolk, c.1620."
If the moated site at Fozy Moss is indeed a duck pipe decoy it is an unusual one. Most of the custom decoys were either crab- or starfish-shaped with a pond of one to two acres in area and a maximum of three feet in depth. Four to six pipes were usual though eight pipes is known.
If the moated site at Fozy Moss is indeed a duck pipe decoy it is an unusual one. Most of the custom decoys were either crab- or starfish-shaped with a pond of one to two acres in area and a maximum of three feet in depth. Four to six pipes were usual though eight pipes is known.
Example of a decoy pond from Norfolk.
Fozy Moss & the mystery of Sewingshields Castle, Northumberland, UK.
I posted some images recently of the interesting little moated site at Fozy Moss. Someone suggested here that it could have been a medieval duck decoy. You can see it in the lidar image (below, top right). To the left are the prominent two adjacent fish-ponds associated with Sewingshields Castle. Part of another fish pond lies further east. Fish and ducks would have been good medieval food supplies. The site of the castle is shown on the early OS maps. There is a slight shadow on the lidar in the location shown but no remains are visible and if that is the correct location then a castle appears to have completely disappeared.
Perhaps the moated site is not a fish-pond or duck decoy but really the castle!
The Gateway record comments make interesting reading. It is unambiguously called a castrum in the 1415 list and described as 'pretty large' by Sir John Clerk. It was reported as ruined by 1592. Can it have been that large a building for ploughing and stone recycling to have completely erased its existence?
http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English.../2800.html
I posted some images recently of the interesting little moated site at Fozy Moss. Someone suggested here that it could have been a medieval duck decoy. You can see it in the lidar image (below, top right). To the left are the prominent two adjacent fish-ponds associated with Sewingshields Castle. Part of another fish pond lies further east. Fish and ducks would have been good medieval food supplies. The site of the castle is shown on the early OS maps. There is a slight shadow on the lidar in the location shown but no remains are visible and if that is the correct location then a castle appears to have completely disappeared.
Perhaps the moated site is not a fish-pond or duck decoy but really the castle!
The Gateway record comments make interesting reading. It is unambiguously called a castrum in the 1415 list and described as 'pretty large' by Sir John Clerk. It was reported as ruined by 1592. Can it have been that large a building for ploughing and stone recycling to have completely erased its existence?
http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English.../2800.html
".. No towers are seen on the wild heath, but those that Fancy builds,
And save a fosse that tracks the moor with green, Is nought remains to tell of what may there have been."
Description of the Castle of the Seven Shields from Harold the Dauntless (The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott).
And save a fosse that tracks the moor with green, Is nought remains to tell of what may there have been."
Description of the Castle of the Seven Shields from Harold the Dauntless (The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott).
Moated site at Fozy Moss. Contours from lidar dtm at interval of 0.2m.
Screenshot of 3D contoured model on Sketchfab. Click image for link.
Elevation profile from N-S across moated site at Fozy Moss.
How does the Fozy Moss moated site compare to other small motte & bailey castle sites?
Below is a screenshot of a 3D model (from dtm lidar) with contours at 0.2m interval.of the earthwork remains of a small motte & bailey castle on Edburton Hill in West Sussex, perched on the northern edge of the North Downs above the village of Fulking.
Location: TQ 23787 10984
Scheduled Monument: 1012171
The monument includes the earthworks and interior area of a motte and bailey castle believed to date from the immediate post-Conquest period, soon after October 1066. On the south side of the monument is a circular mound - the motte - 30m in diameter and 2m above the general ground level at its crest. The centre of the motte is scarred by a depression resulting from mistaken barrow-digging in the 19th century, but much of the motte survives intact. It is completely surrounded by a ditch some 6m wide and still nearly 1m deep, and beyond the ditch around the southern half is a low bank 0.6m high which has been truncated slightly by ploughing on the southern extremity.
Below is a screenshot of a 3D model (from dtm lidar) with contours at 0.2m interval.of the earthwork remains of a small motte & bailey castle on Edburton Hill in West Sussex, perched on the northern edge of the North Downs above the village of Fulking.
Location: TQ 23787 10984
Scheduled Monument: 1012171
The monument includes the earthworks and interior area of a motte and bailey castle believed to date from the immediate post-Conquest period, soon after October 1066. On the south side of the monument is a circular mound - the motte - 30m in diameter and 2m above the general ground level at its crest. The centre of the motte is scarred by a depression resulting from mistaken barrow-digging in the 19th century, but much of the motte survives intact. It is completely surrounded by a ditch some 6m wide and still nearly 1m deep, and beyond the ditch around the southern half is a low bank 0.6m high which has been truncated slightly by ploughing on the southern extremity.
Although this site is located at the opposite end of the country, despite the superficial resemblance between them, there are several important differences. Notable ones are the location, almost flat bog verses edge of a steep escarpment. The earthworks on Edburton Hill also has a dome-shaped motte (even though part has been dug into) in comparison with the wholly concave pond at Fozy Moss. If it ever was a motte, it has been totally dug out to create a pond.
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