Dothill moat

In the civil parish of Wellington. In the historic county of Shropshire (Modern Authority of Telford and Wrekin, 1974 county of Shropshire).

Dothill Moat is known from documentary sources to have been the site of a medieval manor. A 1626 plan shows a large house with outbuildings, and the remains of a moat around the garden at the southern end of the house. In the C18 the house was extended to the north, and in the C19 the earlier part of the house was demolished. The site was finally abandoned and cleared in the 1960s. The development of the house from the C17 onwards is well documented by a series of estate maps. In 1626 Dothill house consisted of a five bayed N/S range with a two storied porch to the east. The range appears to have incorporated an earlier, probably medieval three bayed hall. ... The moat was partially infilled to accommodate the then recent expansion of the house...A cluster of agricultural buildings .... lay to the north, an arrangement which continued up to the C20. (Hannaford and Litherland 1989)
An excavation in 1989 found some medieval pottery but mainly features of the post medieval house. I do not know the reason for Jackson feeling a need to put this site in his castle book and then reject it, unless his description of the site as a raised plateau 300 ft in diameter had him feel it might by confused for a motte. This was a medieval manorial centre and, even though it is only 1km from Apley Castle, it is impossibly to entirely dismiss this as the site of a motte or to suggest the medieval house did not have some other fortification beyond the moat.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ645129

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 72334
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 02895 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

• Books
  • Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p71 [reject]
    Braugh, G.C., 1985, 'Wellington: Manors and other estates' VCH Shropshire p215-21 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=18141
• Journal Articles
  • Watson, M.D., 1987, 'Gazetteer of Moated Sites in Shropshire' Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Vol65 p8
    1961, Medieval Archaeology Vol5 p319 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Hannaford, H.R. and Litherland, S., 1989, Dothill Moat, Telford: An Archaeological Evaluation