A HISTORY OF KENT 



BouGHTON Aluph : Wilmington AIanor. 

 — About a mile and a half south of the parish 

 church is this typical example of a simple 

 homestead moat, of which a plan is given. 



Wilmington Manor Moat, Boughton Aluph. 



In works of this class the earth dug to form 

 the moat, or fosse, was thrown inwards and 

 spread, thus raising the enclosed space above 

 the level of the surrounding land and securing 

 a dry, weU-drained site. Access was origin- 

 ally afforded by a drawbridge or removable 

 platform. 



Brenchley : Moatlands. — Nearly the 

 whole of the moat of a castellated early six- 

 teenth century mansion remains. 



Bromley : Palace. — The site of the old 

 palace of the Bishops of Rochester retains part 

 of the moat, the line of which 

 may be traced throughout. 



Bromley: Simpson's Moat. 

 — Very little remains to sug- 

 gest that a formidable moat 

 was here, surrounding a castel- 

 lated hall of the fourteenth 

 century. The Archceological 

 Journal (vol.xxv.), 1868, shows 

 that far more existed at the 

 date of that issue. 



Capel : Badsell. — Three 

 sides of the moat remain in 

 good condition. 



Capel : Moat Farm. — 

 About a mile north-east of 

 Capel Church are traces of moating. 



Chevemng, Chipstead : Moat Farm. — 

 This small, nearly complete homestead moat 

 lies about a mile north-east of Sundridge. 



Chislehurst : Scadbury. — Writing so long 



ago as 1778, Hasted says that the ' antient 

 mansion of Scadbury has been many years in 

 ruins,' and that its material had been used in 

 a farmhouse building. From the plan of the 

 existing moating it is evident that the 

 work was originally of the double -i-land 

 form, and that much care had been exer- 

 cised to defend the enclosure. 



Cowden : The Moat. — About a mile 

 north-east of the village is a moated 

 enclosure, one side of which was formed 

 by a stream, a feeder of the Medway. 



Though less than 200 ft. square, this 

 was a place of considerable strength 



Cranbrook : Glassenbury. — It is pro- 

 bable that the moat, which remains in 

 part around the restored mansion of 

 Glassenbury, was made when Walter 

 Roberts, who possessed the estate in the 

 reigns of Edward IV. and Henry VII., 

 pulled down the older seat on the adjoin- 

 ing hill and built another on the present 

 site, which Hasted says he moated round.' 

 Cranbrook : Sissinghurst Castle. — 

 The buildings and ruins which remain, 

 being part of the stately mansion built 

 in the i6th century, will be referred to in 

 a later section of this History ; here it is only 

 necessary to note that a considerable length of 

 moating remains. 



It is probable that this may appertain to 

 an earlier time than the date of the mansion, 

 though there is hardly sufficient visible evi- 

 dence to show that moating was carried round 

 the whole enclosure at any period. 



The Ordnance Survey map shows that the 

 north-east angle of the moat is perfect, and 

 that thence the northern arm extends for 

 250 ft. and the eastern for 320 ft. 



SCALE OF FEET 

 lOo ^OO 



Broxham Moat, Edenbridge. 



Crayford : Howbury. — Within a short 

 distance of the river Darenth and close on the 

 Thames marshes much moating still encloses 



Hist. Kent (1790), iii. 45. 



426 



