This raised platform measures 41 metres from north to south and 56 metres from east to west, standing about half a metre above the surrounding landscape. What makes this site particularly intriguing is its defensive arrangement; a double bank system with a water-filled ditch, or fosse, running between them, creating what archaeologists believe may have been a medieval moated site.

The earthwork’s defensive features tell a story of careful medieval planning. The inner bank, roughly a metre wide, rises 1.4 metres on its exterior face whilst the interior height reaches just half a metre. Between this and an outer bank runs a fosse measuring 2.5 metres wide and 0.9 metres deep. The outer bank, considerably wider at 5 metres, stands 1.4 metres high on its inner face and 0.9 metres on the outer. Whilst the southern side has been levelled over time, the remaining three sides preserve these impressive earthen defences remarkably well.

Curiously, no obvious entrance feature has been identified, leaving questions about how the site’s inhabitants accessed the enclosed area. This type of moated site, typically dating from the Anglo-Norman period onwards, would have served as a defended homestead for a family of some local importance; not quite a castle, but certainly more than a simple farmstead. The choice of low-lying, poorly drained land might seem counterintuitive, but it would have kept the surrounding fosse naturally water-filled, enhancing the site’s defensive capabilities whilst creating an imposing boundary between the inhabitants and the outside world.