COLESHILL HALL

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Rems of homestead moat, site of Coleshill Hall (Manor House)

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[SP 19048834] Coleshill Hall [GT] (Site of)
MOAT [GT] (1)

North-east of Coleshill Farm "are the remains of a dry moat
with no structures inside it".
The manor of Coleshill has been in the Digby family since 1495.
It came into their hands at the execution and attainder of Sir
Simon de Montfort An oblique reference to 'the Hall' occurs,
coupled with the date 1686 (2)

The remains of the moat are dry and grass covered. It is well
preserved. (3)

The four-sided north east half of a now dry homestead moat,
north of Coleshill Hall Farm, measures 150.0m across, overall,
and extends south-westwards for 90.0m. The arms reduced and
spread by the plough average 18.0m in width and 1.0m in depth.
A causeway across the north west side is probably modern. The
River Cole possibly formed the south west side of the moat or has
eroded it away. Farm buildings occupy the south side of the site.
The feature is under pasture and no traces of buildings are
visible within the enclosed area.
Published 1:2500 survey, 1975, correct. (4)

Behind the house at Ettington Park (SP 24 NW 12) is a later 17th c
Loggia brought from Coleshill Pard. (5)

The moat is largely as described by auth 4. The half that survives is
polygonal, with a complete north-eastern arm 15m long, and shorter
north-western and easern arms also seemingly surviving intact.
Traces of two further sides vaguely paralleling each other on the
west and south-east suggest that originally, if symmetrical about a
NW-SE axis, the shape may have been octagonal. The R Cole, on whose
flood plain the moat lies, could have been utilized as one or more
of the missing arms of such an arrangement. However, it is perhaps
more likely that the moat exised as a separate entity, with water
leaked in from and out to the river. No surface evidence for any
of this now survives.

Along the NE arm in particular, the moat island is upto 1m higher
than the external ground surface. The northern and western boundaries of the field in which the moat lies are also marked by scarps or lynchets averaging 1m high, rising up to the fields beyond. It is unclear whether this lowering of the land in between is natural topography emphasised by the later land-use history around the moat,
or whether it represents a deliberate act of quarrying. However,
if deliberate, some 8m beyond the NE arm are the very spread remains
of an outer retaining bank, which would indicate that the lowering
predates or is contemporary with the moat's construction. Central
to this arm there are also the remains of what appear to be bridge
abuttments, no doubt representing the original access onto the
island. In line with this and running from the field boundary some
12m towards the moat, is a rectangular flat-topped mound 0.8m high
which may be part of a causeway crossing the depressed area in front
of the island. The existence today of "Hall Walk" approaching the
site from the SE could indicate that there was originally access
across the moat from this direction also. The causeway across the
north-west arm noted by auth 4 (not surveyed) is undoubtedly modern.

The farmer, Mr Lucas, said that his father was told as a lad that the
old Hall on the site was destroyed by fire last century, and that
the present farmhouse at SP 19078825 was orginally the stable-block
to the house. The standing Colehill Hall at SP 185893 (now in use
as a hospital) was built in 1873. The Digby family who acquired the
Manor in 1495 were subsequently ennobled, later also becoming Earls
of Bristol (1). This together with auth 5'S evidence for the
existence of a Loggia at Coleshill Park in the 17th century, plus
the documented existence of a deer park (SP 18 NE 4), should imply
that the old Hall and its grounds were the subject of architectural
treatment of some pretension.
Published survey revised at 1:2500. (6)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) General reference

OS 6', 1905

( 2) General reference

V.C.H.Warw., 4, 1947, 49, 51-2, (Rev. Noel Baston and M.M. Midgley)

( 3) Field Investigators Comments

F1 TPW 17-JUL-62

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F2 ASP 02-FEB-76

(5) Field Investigators Comments

F2 HMJ 13-SEP-1988

(6) Field Investigators Comments

F3 HMJ 13-SEP-1988

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