BRANSTON:
BRANSTON LODGE
TF
063683
This
moated enclosure is situated close to the Car Dyke on Branston Moor and is some
four kilometres to the east of the present village of Branston, just above the
fen edge (Fig 30). It is of a very regular shape, with a central platform of
about 1500 square metres (Fig 31). The ditch varies from seven to twelve metres
in width and is always full of water. There is a slight bank surviving on the
south-west side of the earthwork and the old series 6" to one mile
Ordnance Survey map shows a similar bank on the south-east side. It remains as
a wildlife conservation area, with no indication of any former access to the
central area.
The site has not been positively
identified, but is almost certainly related to the medieval improvement of the
waste, and may be the grange that Kirkstead Abbey built in the parish in the
twelfth century (1). However, the monastery had various sheepfolds and
sheep-shearing sheds in Branston, and, short of archaeological investigation, a
non-habitative site cannot therefore be excluded (2).
1. Religious
Houses ii, 114.
2. Kirkstead Cartulary f. 63, no cxxvii. I
am grateful to Dr Trevor Foulds for this reference.