Monument record MDR12356 - Medieval ditch, Staveley Hall, Staveley

During excavations in the grounds of Staveley Hall in 2005 and 2006, a substantial V-shaped ditch was encountered in several trenches, running along the southern boundary of the site, close to the modern churchyard boundary. This feature may well turn northwards to the west of the hall. The ditch is roughly 2m wide and almost 1m deep in places. It is fairly clear that this feature had no drainage purpose, and it must therefore have served as a boundary, perhaps between the church and a medieval pre-cursor of the hall. If the interpretation of it turning behind the hall is correct, it may even have run all the way around the site. Two other trenches to the east of the hall produced evidence of a ditch which could have formed part of this boundary. Although its profile was slighter, it lay within the truncated building footprint of the later hall and would originally have been considerably more substantial. Pottery from the fills of the large ditch suggests that backfilling occurred in the period between 1250 and 1450. (1)